Some Scotiabank customers still unable to access accounts after ‘scheduled maintenance’

Last Friday, Scotiabank’s customer service account on X announced that there would be scheduled maintenance starting that day and ending on Tuesday, affecting various credit card and line of credit services. However, what was intended as routine maintenance quickly turned into a major outage for many customers. They took to social media to express their frustration, reporting that they were unable to access their accounts online or send e-Transfers. Even a day after the maintenance was supposed to have been completed, customers were still experiencing issues.

In a statement released on Wednesday afternoon, Scotiabank acknowledged that “some clients are experiencing intermittent access to some banking services” and assured customers that they were working diligently to restore full functionality. The bank apologized for the inconvenience caused to their clients.

The outage, which followed a technical issue earlier in the year that disrupted the deposit of customers’ paycheques, led to a flood of angry comments online and even sparked a proposed class action lawsuit. Despite repeated inquiries from CBC, Scotiabank did not directly address whether more services were affected than initially stated. However, the bank did clarify that point-of-sale transactions had not been impacted by the outage.

One customer, Yusuf Mahamed, from North Vancouver, B.C., shared his experience of being unable to access his online banking and send an e-Transfer to his wife. He noted that his entire online banking suite was not functioning and he couldn’t even see his credit card information. Despite not receiving any prior communication from Scotiabank about the maintenance, he continued to experience issues into Wednesday evening.

Downdetector, a third-party outage tracker, reported a significant increase in outage reports on Wednesday morning, with over 1,500 individuals affected compared to the usual baseline of six reports. While Scotiabank’s initial announcement only mentioned specific services being impacted, customers reported a wider range of issues beyond those outlined.

A proposed class action lawsuit filed on Wednesday highlighted the financial difficulties faced by customers who were unable to access their accounts. The lawsuit seeks fixed damages of $100 for each affected Scotiabank customer. Joey Zurkan, the attorney representing the class action, emphasized the financial harm caused by late or missed payments due to the outage.

The root cause of these outages is attributed to the antiquated legacy systems still in use by many major banks in Canada. Daniel Tsai, an expert in business and law, explained that these outdated systems make service disruptions more frequent and challenging to resolve. He called for a more serious approach from federal regulators to push banks towards upgrading their systems to prevent future outages.

As customers continue to face inconveniences and financial losses due to these outages, pressure is mounting on banks to modernize their systems. The recent events at Scotiabank serve as a reminder of the importance of investing in technology upgrades to ensure the seamless operation of essential banking services.