State-controlled Banco do Brasil faces server problems

The servers of Banco do Brasil, Brazil’s biggest state-controlled bank (and second-largest overall), have faced stability issues on Friday. Users report that all services have been unavailable — whether through the website, the bank’s app, or its branches.

The problem occurred nationwide, with customers being unable to make payments. Others say they couldn’t withdraw money from ATMs.

According to Downdetector, a platform that monitors problems with digital services, user reports began coming in at around 3 pm (Brasília time) — and complaints peaked at 3,000 a minute by roughly 5 pm. Data from Google Trends also show peaks in searches related to problems with Banco do Brasil servers.

“[The bank] confirms inconsistencies with its servers on Friday afternoon and is working to regain normality,” said Banco do Brasil in a statement. It officially denies that the problem comes from a hack and has issued no securities filing on the incident. 

CEO Fausto Ribeiro was appointed earlier this year by President Jair Bolsonaro, and promised to bring a “technological revolution” to the bank. With some reports indicating problems with the bank’s mainframe — which allegedly shut down due to hundreds of systemic failures — he could be facing one of the biggest technological incidents in the bank’s history.

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