A major system failure at Bangladesh Bank has severely disrupted the country’s digital financial network, halting internet banking, digital payments and interbank transactions.
The outage began around 4pm on Thursday after a power failure triggered a complete shutdown of the central bank’s systems, officials said. They could not confirm when services would resume, noting only that recovery work was in progress.
The disruption has stalled cheque clearing and both local and international payment settlements. The National Payment Switch Bangladesh (NPSB) — the platform that facilitates interbank transactions has also gone offline, complicating interbank transfers, online payments and a wide range of banking services.
Arif Hossain Khan, executive director and spokesperson of Bangladesh Bank, said the outage was caused by a power failure and voltage fluctuations that forced the entire system to shut down. “The problem began shortly after 4pm,” he said.
He added that all interbank transactions have been suspended for the time being, though a full technical team from Bangladesh Bank is working to resolve the issue.
While the bank could not give an exact timeline for full restoration, Khan expressed hope that services would return to normal “very soon.”
Several banks issued public notices to customers stating: “Due to a technical issue at Bangladesh Bank, NPSB services are temporarily unavailable. Efforts are ongoing to restore the system as quickly as possible. We sincerely regret the inconvenience.”
