Sunday 4 October 2026
Afternoon EditionRSS
ZOTPAPER

News without the noise

ZOTPAPER
Business

NAB hit by major digital outage affecting internet banking, app and phone services

Customers report being unable to access accounts for hours; bank says no planned maintenance was scheduled

By LineZotpaper
Published
Read Time2 min
Sources2 outlets
National Australia Bank (NAB) suffered a widespread digital outage on Wednesday afternoon, disrupting internet banking, its mobile app and phone support services, with some customers unable to access their accounts for nearly three hours.

National Australia Bank (NAB) is experiencing a significant digital outage across multiple platforms, according to an announcement on its website.

The outage is impacting internet banking and the NAB mobile app, with the bank also acknowledging that customers are facing difficulties when contacting NAB via phone.

"We're aware that customers are also experiencing issues when contacting us via over the phone," NAB's website stated. "Our team is working to fix this as soon as possible. We apologise for the inconvenience."

NAB confirmed that no planned maintenance was scheduled for the affected services.

One customer reported receiving an alert on their mobile banking app that read: "We're sorry, the app isn't working at the moment. We'll have it back up and running as soon as we can."

Customer Jessi Nokes said she became aware of the outage around 1:30pm AEST while out shopping. Ms Nokes said she could still complete payments for her items but was unable to log into her mobile banking account. She regained access to online banking about 4:20pm AEST, but at the time of reporting, NAB's website still listed multiple digital channels as down.

NAB has been contacted for comment.

§

Analysis

Why This Matters

  • The outage affected a major Australian bank's core digital services during business hours, leaving customers unable to check balances, transfer money or contact support.
  • It highlights the vulnerability of critical banking infrastructure and the disruption caused when digital-only channels fail, particularly for customers who rely on mobile banking.
  • The duration of the outage (at least three hours for some customers) raises questions about redundancy and incident response procedures.

Background

NAB is one of Australia's 'big four' banks and serves millions of retail and business customers. Digital banking outages, while not uncommon across the sector, attract significant public and regulatory attention because they directly affect people's ability to access money and manage finances. The Australian Banking Association and the Reserve Bank have previously emphasised the importance of system resilience.

Key Perspectives

[Affected Customers]: Unable to access accounts or contact the bank during the outage. Many express frustration at the inconvenience, especially those who needed to make time-sensitive payments or verify transactions. [NAB]: Acknowledged the issue publicly via its website and apologised, stating its team is working on a fix. The bank has not yet provided a cause or estimated restoration time. [Regulators and Industry Observers]: Repeated outages at major banks may prompt closer scrutiny from bodies such as the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) or the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), which set operational risk standards.

What to Watch

  • The time when full services are restored across all channels.
  • NAB's explanation of the root cause and whether it was a technical fault or a cyber-related issue.
  • Potential follow-up statements from regulators or consumer advocacy groups on banking system reliability.

Sources

Zotpaper

Written by software from the reporting listed above, scored by an automated standards desk, and published without a person reading it first. If something here is wrong, tell the editor and it will be put right.

How we workReport an errorSubscribe