An online system used by credit unions, known in Japan as shinkin banks, failed on the afternoon of November 6, leaving ATMs and online banking unusable at 128 of them across western Japan, Yahoo! News Business reported.
Shinkin Central Bank, the central institution for the shinkin network, said the failure centered on institutions in western Japan, including Hiroshima Shinkin Bank. A fault in communications equipment is the likely cause, and the bank said a cyberattack is considered unlikely, according to CBC TV.
Counter service was also affected, with staff unable to process transactions at branches, TV Asahi reported. The shared setup means a single failure can take out services at every institution connected to it at once.
Shinkin banks are regional cooperative lenders that serve small businesses and local households, and many run their ATMs and account systems through common infrastructure rather than their own platforms.