HSBC (0005) apologized after thousands of British customers reported they were unable to access some mobile and online banking services during the Black Friday sales.
Website Downdetector which tracks service outages reported complaints began shortly after 0700 GMT and peaked at more than 4,000 by 0900, with hundreds of customers still complaining of issues by 1600 GMT.
"We understand this is really frustrating for some of our customers, and we are really sorry for the inconvenience," a spokesperson for the bank said. The problems are the result of an "internal system issue," the spokesperson added.
This came as Adobe Analytics said Black Friday shoppers spent a record US$9.8 billion (HK$76.44 billion) online in the US.
Demand for electronics, smartwatches, TVs and audio equipment helped boost the day's online sales by 7.5 percent compared with last year.
Mastercard Spendingpulse also said that US retail sales on Black Friday rose 2.5 percent year-over-year excluding automotive sales, not adjusted for inflation. It anticipated the figure to grow 3.7 percent during the holiday season, running from November 1 through December 24.
