HSBC, Hang Seng mobile apps glitch, locking out Hong Kong customers

HSBC, Hong Kong's largest bank, experienced significant disruptions to its mobile banking services on Monday morning, preventing many of its over 7 million customers in the city from accessing their accounts. Numerous customers reported being unable to log into the mobile app since 9 a.m., with the application displaying a message indicating restricted access due to issues with valid email addresses and mobile numbers, despite users having their details already registered.

A spokesperson for HSBC stated, "We are working to resume normal functionality, as some customers may be experiencing difficulties accessing some of our services. We are resolving these as quickly as possible and apologise for any inconvenience caused."

This incident marks the second time HSBC's mobile banking system has faced a breakdown in the past six months, following a similar outage in January that rendered its mobile app and online services inactive for several hours. Hang Seng Bank, an affiliate of HSBC, also experienced similar mobile app glitches on Monday morning.

One affected customer, Hong Kong resident Erica Wu, reported being unable to log into her HSBC app after multiple attempts starting from 9:45 a.m. She also noted that attempts to top up her PayMe account, HSBC's peer-to-peer transfer application, were unsuccessful.