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The Swedish financial watchdog, Finansinspektionen (FI), has announced that it is appointing an external auditor to map out a "substantial IT disturbance" at one of the country’s largest retail banking institutions.
The IT incident that triggered the regulator’s investigation at Swedbank occurred during the night between April 28 and 29.
According to the FI, it resulted in incorrect balances being shown in customers’ accounts.
The appointed auditor has been tasked with investigating the course of events that led up to the incident, how the incident was handled and resolved, as well as the bank's controls and preparedness for it.
The auditor will document observations in a report to the regulator, who will then decide on further action.
In a statement, Swedbank chief executive Jens Henriksson said that the company welcomed the investigation. "Swedbank suffered from a substantial IT disturbance during the night which affected our customers. This is very serious and we take forceful measures to prevent this from happening again.”
Previously in April, the FI opened an investigation into the country’s clearing system, Bankgirot, also for IT failures.
The regulator said that it planned to probe how Bankgirot complies with rules for how incidents in IT and information security should be handled.
“An interruption in Bankgirocentralen BGC's critical operations risks giving rise to serious disruptions in the Swedish payment system, which in turn risks spreading to the rest of the financial system,” the Finansinspektionen said in a statement at the time.
FI probes payment accounts blocking
Later this week, the FI will be holding a roundtable with stakeholders from throughout the banking sector in Sweden to discuss a consumer’s right to open a payment account.
Taking place on May 20, the background is that the number of complaints FI is receiving from consumers who are being denied a payment account is increasing. Some also have their accounts blocked or closed.
“This is a significant problem", said Karin Lundberg, the executive director of the Banking section at FI. "Without an account, it is difficult to carry out daily transactions since it is not possible to send or receive payments or transfer money."
