All the digital messes for Hype and Banca Sella customers
Inconveniences for Hype and Banca Sella customers following maintenance interventions that began on Sunday. Today the Biella credit institution announced that technicians are working to resolve problems in accessing and using online services
You log in to your home banking and realize that the account is zero.
This is what happened on Saturday 6 April to the account holders of Banca Sella and the subsidiary Hype. Not only that, as gathered from customer testimonials on Both platforms are affected by the same paralysis, since Hype, since 2015, has been a fintech company "powered by Banca Sella" , now a joint venture between the Sella group and Illimity.
The bank announced that "The problems encountered are of a technical-IT nature" and that they derive "from maintenance interventions".
“This situation is reminiscent of what happened a year ago in April: however, the emergency at that time was resolved by the morning, while in this case the blackout seems to be more serious. Sources from the banking institution have underlined that it is not a hacker attack, rejecting this hypothesis", reports SkyTg24 .
“Interventions are currently continuing to resolve problems in accessing and using online services. We apologize very much for the inconvenience" the Biella-based credit institution announced today on its website.
In the meantime, the physical branches in the area are assisting account holders and savers also with regards to online services, such as bank transfers and account statements.
All the details.
THE INCONVENIENCES RECORDED BY CUSTOMERS OF HYPE AND BANCA SELLA
Since last Sunday, Banca Sella and Hype customers have had problems accessing their accounts from the home banking app and the official Banca Sella website was also blocked and/or slowed down as well as payments with debit cards, prepaid cards and credit bank transfers and payments received at the POS.
WHAT IS HYPE (ABOUT BANCA SELLA)
Hype is a Sella group company that offers digital solutions for daily money management. Through an account, a card and an app it is possible to take advantage of the most traditional banking services, such as incoming and outgoing bank transfers, recurring debits and recurring payments, and smart and innovative services such as insurance and expense control and management.
Not only. Hype is also a payment tool, thanks to the integration with ApplePay and GooglePay.
“Born in 2015 to demonstrate how, even in Italy, there was a need for a different banking offer and a space for growth, today Hype, with over 1.8 million users and the achievement of the first profit, confirms the sustainability of the proposed model and the ability to create value", Giuseppe Virgone, CEO of Hype, commented on the 2023 results last month.
WHAT HAPPENED OVER THE WEEKEND
“Due to an internal technical problem, which occurred following some periodic maintenance interventions on the IT systems which took place over the weekend, slowdowns and interruptions are being experienced in the access and use of online services (Internet Banking and apps) and in the functioning of payments via debit and prepaid cards". The bank itself communicated this.
Hence the disservices to the 3 million customers (between Hype and Banca Sella) throughout Italy.
The credit institution has announced that technicians are working to restore full operations as soon as possible. But to date they have not yet succeeded.
HYPE'S EXCUSES
“We apologize for the inconvenience caused by slowdowns and interruptions in accessing and using some Hype services. We are working to return to full operations,” we read in the latest update provided by Hype on its channel On the internet page dedicated to services, we read that "due to internal technical problems, access and use of Hype services is experiencing interruptions and slowdowns". The company then reassures customers by specifying that, although "it may be frustrating not to have full control of your home banking", the money kept in current accounts "is safe and we are working with the utmost priority to bring everything back to normality."
TODAY'S NOTE FROM BANCA SELLA
And to date there still doesn't seem to be any light at the end of the tunnel.
“We are working to return to full operations as soon as possible” Banca Sella announced on its website on April 10 “Unfortunately, at the moment we cannot provide a precise forecast on recovery times. We are obviously available through all our support channels to offer assistance and manage specific reports."
Today the Biella credit institution announces that "At the moment, interventions are continuing to resolve problems in accessing and using online services. We are very sorry for the inconvenience." At the same time, Banca Sella specifies that "It is important for us to confirm that the banking services (account balances, movement lists, card availability, etc.) work regularly, slowdowns and access difficulties relate only to online channels" .
THE EXPERT'S COMMENT
“The most serious technological catastrophe involving an Italian bank”. This is how Matteo Flora , professor of Corporate Reputation, Crisis Management & CyberSecurity, described the series of structural problems recorded by Banca Sella and Hype since the weekend on the X platform .
“Multiple sources, including the Help pages [of the bank's website, ed.], speak of the problem as a failure of the Oracle Italia operating system and firmware,” he observes on ”.
Not only that, Flora also writes that " According to rumors on Reddit , an update to the architecture has "broken the main database". It would be incredible, but not “never heard before”. Except that "central database" doesn't mean anything, and it can't involve multiple entities like here, unless the internal company that manages the Banking services has been taken over, which in this case is Fabrick Platform".
FABRICK'S INVOLVEMENT
Fabrick is the "platform that promotes new business models and banking services by encouraging collaboration between financial institutions, corporates and fintechs" as stated on its website. And the company is controlled by none other than Banca Sella.
“And in fact when you check, look at what comes up on the company website” continues Flora who reports what was communicated by Fabrick at this link : “We inform you that the event is currently still underway and continuous monitoring is active any slowdowns refer only to the services provided jointly with the Sella group. There are still ongoing slowdowns in credits, in payments with debit and prepaid cards and in accessing and using online services, including Internet Banking, Smart Business Saddle and app. The resolution of the event has the highest priority for all of us.”
Finally, the expert observes that "for now all the various updates say that the integrity of the data has not been compromised, but we will see in the end, as we know these things are always in doubt until they are touched firsthand. It is certainly the most serious breach of data operations and accessibility ever encountered in Italy in my memory, and I am curious to see what this will entail on the part of ABI, CONSOB and the Privacy Guarantor…".
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/tutti-i-casini-digitali-per-i-clienti-di-hype-e-banca-sella/ on Thu, 11 Apr 2024 05:56:24 +0000.