Banking and Airline Services Restored After Software Outage

South African banks Capitec and Absa have restored their services after a global software disruption caused widespread downtime. Customers of Airlink, South African Airways, and FlySafair also experienced technical issues due to the outage, impacting bookings and payments. Both banks assured the security of customer data.

JOHANNESBURG, July 19 (Reuters) - Services of South African lenders Capitec Bank and Absa have been fully restored after experiencing disruptions early on Friday, both companies said, as a software update wreaked havoc on computer systems globally.

Capitec reported significant disruptions across all of its banking channels due to a global downtime incident, involving cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike. Capitec reassured clients that their bank accounts and personal data remain secure and unaffected.

The South African bank of Absa Group announced that its digital banking channels, point-of-sale services, and ATMs are now functional, and access to its rewards hub is restored. Meanwhile, airlines like South African Airways, Airlink, and FlySafair faced technical outages, impacting customer service and payment processing.

(With inputs from agencies.)