On Tuesday, July 6, in the morning hours, Akbank customers faced problems in their mobile banking transactions. In the following hours, it became clear that the problem was much bigger and that not only the bank’s mobile internet branches, but all of its data systems were malfunctioning. During the day, there were many news reports about the system being hacked, crashed and data security, and Akbank’s board of directors was accused of failing to manage the crisis. So what was the real situation, what was the reason for this situation, which marked the World Banking History and was the first of its kind, let’s explain it in simple language.
First of all, we have to explain the concept of IT (Information Technology). Although it is translated into Turkish as “Information Technologies (IT)” or “Information Technologies”, most of us hear it as “Information Processing“. The actual definition of IT (Information Technology) is “the field that encompasses the structuring, processing, creation, protection and modification of digital data through the use of any computer, storage device, network and other physical devices”.
In this period we call the Digital Revolution, of course, the banking system has also received its share from the trend of moving everything to the digital environment. Banks, which hold the private data of their customers, were among the first institutions to adapt to this system. Integrating themselves into many systems such as ATM, Mobile Banking and Internet Banking, banks have become the pioneers of a new era. Nowadays, banks are bringing Internet Banking to the forefront by closing their branches and reducing the number of employees. This is because many things have changed compared to the past. ATMs replacing tellers, Internet Banking replacing employees and finally Mobile Banking Systems replacing branches…
We can see the developing digital banking as perhaps the biggest reinforcer of “Capital Freedom”, which is one of the biggest abilities we have gained with globalization. With capitalism becoming the general economic view and eliminating prohibitive situations, capital can now be moved from one place to another with a single touch and can easily change hands. We are faced with a “Digital Banking” concept that has grown so much and increased its importance. We would not be lying if we say that the Akbank Crisis tested the confidence in this situation once again.
On Tuesday, July 6, in the morning hours, Akbank Mobile Banking systems gave an error and problems started. As far as I observed, although the problem (by non-Akbank customers) seemed to be only a mobile banking problem, it was not limited to this part. The problem was on all digital systems.
Using an IBM Mainframe system, the bank (like most banks) encountered a bug related to database and disk management. This affected Mobile Banking as well as ATM and Internet Banking, which were also connected to the digital system, resulting in almost zero deposits and money movements. This is where the crisis began,
All transfers, from credit card payments to salary investment days, from deposit interest days to payments of receivables-debtors, were locked. This situation continued for 43 hours. Customers could not make any transactions for 43 hours and could not even withdraw their money from ATMs.
Many victimized customers expressed their grievances in many ways, from trending topics on Twitter to bug reports. What really aroused anger was Akbank management’s reluctance to make a statement, let alone manage such a major crisis. The issue even reached Özgür Demirtaş, who was a consultant on the Board of Directors and had nothing to do with it, and we can say that the pelican media, which turned the crisis into an opportunity, was the icing on the cake.
Of course, you cannot expect a system that is so advanced and integrated into the relationship between the Bank and the Customer to be destroyed by a single problem. Article 25 of Section 5, “Information Systems Continuity and Accessibility Management” of the Official Gazette No. 31069, states that “Banks are obliged to keep their primary and secondary systems domestically.” It refers to the section. The part I want to emphasize here is that there is also a secondary system that will come into play in case of failure of the primary systems and that the data backup part is carried out through the secondary systems. However, it was unfortunate that Akbank was moving its Secondary System, which was located in Izmir, to Istanbul on the grounds that it was facing flood danger. This problem occurred during the relocation of this secondary system and the crisis grew even bigger.
Akbank has taken various measures to address customer grievances, here are these measures in brief;
– The due date of our credit card customers whose statement payment is on 06.07.2021 or 07.07.2021 will be postponed to 08.07.2021 by our bank.
– For personal loans with a loan installment date of 06/07/2021 – 07/07/2021, the delay interest accrued for the relevant days due to non-payment will be refunded.
– For commercial loans with a loan maturity or installment date of 06.07.2021 – 07.07.2021, no interest will be charged on the relevant days / interest will be repaid.
– Our customers will not be charged any late interest on their statement, loan and installment payments.
– Our customers do not need to take any additional action regarding statement deferrals, loan maturity and installment payments.
– Until 12.07.2021, the fees charged by other banks for withdrawals and deposits, credit card debt payment and imaging transactions to be made with Akbank Card from all other bank ATMs will be refunded.
The crisis was resolved 43 hours after it started, Akbank lost confidence in the stock market and among its customers, and its shares plummeted, so much so that on Wednesday, July 07, when banks were in circulation (uptrend between 0.30% and 0.80%) and Borsa Istanbul was in an uptrend of 0.30%, Akbank shares fell 0.93%.
THE CRISIS IS OVER, WHAT SHOULD WE DO?
Every crisis teaches something to its successors and equalizes the situation, this crisis will surely whisper something to us. For the newly developing Management Information Systems departments in our country, this crisis can be a very good example and a lesson-learning tool. In addition, this crisis can be a proof of how important and critical IT departments are in the developing Digital Banking era we are in. Since we are in the Digital Banking era, we have also learned how often the systems that do this job should be audited and the vulnerabilities should be closed as soon as possible. As a result, the crisis left various tricks to its successors and that was how it ended. The important points are to tighten the audits and learn from this situation. I hope that such a crisis will not happen to a big institution like Akbank, nor to others, and that IT departments and budding economists/management informaticians like me will learn from this crisis.
Sincerely and Respectfully…
SOURCES;
- https://www.resmigazete.gov.tr/eskiler/2020/03/20200315-10.htm
- https://www.akbank.com/tr-tr/Yatirimci-iliskileri/Sayfalar/Bizden-Haberler.aspx?accCombo=2021&accId=7288252
- https://www.haberler.com/akbank-duzeldi-mi-ne-zaman-duzelecek-akbank-atm-14250087-haberi/
- https://twitter.com/Akbank?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
- https://haberglobal.com.tr/ekonomi/akbank-ta-yasanan-sorun-borsaya-yansidi-negatif-ayrisiyor-119684
- https://wmaraci.com/nedir/it
- https://www.bbc.com/turkce/haberler-turkiye-57785087
