The Wall Street Journal is reporting today that a surge in demand for cash has caused computer problems at Japan's Mizuho Bank, knocking out the financial institution's ATM network, Internet banking service and money transfer system.
System malfunctions have seen the Tokyo-based bank unable to handle money transfers since Tuesday. Tellers at all 440 of its branches have been unable to conduct cash transfers and money orders.
As of yesterday Mizuho was unable to complete 440,000 transactions valued at 570 billion yen, says a statement on its Web site. Today 1600 ATMs and online services also stopped working for several hours before being restored around midday local time.
The problems come as demand for cash rises in the wake of Friday's earthquake and subsequent tsunami, as well as the ongoing fears surrounding the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
The cause of the problems has yet to be established but Mizuho President Satoru Nishibori said in a press conference today that the surge in transactions may be behind them, while a spokesman told the Wall Street Journal that the power cuts caused by the earthquake are not thought to be responsible.
Local news outlet Nikkei says that another possible explanation is the systems changes recently made to enable ATMs to accept earthquake relief donations. No other major financial institutions have reported problems.
In the wholesale markets, the Tokyo Stock Exchange and Japanese financial regulators have resisted calls from foreign banks to halt trading as the markets bucked wildly in the wake of the crisis. The exchange has stood firm throughout the week, relying on its new Arrowhead trading platform to handle spikes in capacity during volatile trading.
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Japanese bank's ATM network crashes
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