About 3,200 automated teller machines installed at around 900 outlets of Resona group banks nationwide temporarily malfunctioned Monday morning, according to Resona Holdings Inc.
Resona Bank branches that used to be run by Asahi Bank and almost all outlets of Saitama Resona Bank were affected, Resona Holdings officials said.
About 2,100 ATMs at some 300 manned branches were repaired by 12:50 p.m., and the remainder, installed at unmanned outlets, were operating normally by 2:30 p.m., the officials said.
Resona Holdings said technicians were unsure what caused the ATMs to malfunction. The problems began at the outset of the day's business operations.
Resona Holdings includes Kinki Osaka Bank, Nara Bank and Resona Trust & Banking Co.
Resona Bank and Saitama Resona Bank, created after the integration of Daiwa Bank and Asahi Bank, began operating March 3.
The ATMs that Resona Bank took over from Asahi Bank malfunctioned, while none of Daiwa Bank's ATMs were affected.
Resona Bank uses the same separate host computers that Daiwa Bank and Asahi Bank had used for their ATM operations. Work to combine the networks will begin next year.
About 100 people were kept waiting at a Resona Bank office in Saitama, and a disgruntled customer lashed out at a bank official at an Osaka branch.
The Resona group has had other problems with ATMs since beginning operations.
Shortly after the launch of the new group, 45 Saitama Resona Bank and Resona Bank ATMs in Lawson convenience stores in Nara Prefecture malfunctioned, preventing cardholders from withdrawing money from accounts at other banks or checking the balances in those accounts.
Earlier this month, Resona group banks double-billed more than 2,000 electronic and other accounts, mainly of corporate customers, in automatic withdrawals for paying bills.
The Resona group attributed the problems to clerical errors, denying they were caused by problems stemming directly from its computer system.
