FNB App down on Black Friday? Here’s why South Africans faced banking chaos in 2025

South Africans woke up on Black Friday expecting massive discounts, fast checkouts, and seamless digital payments—but many First National Bank (FNB) customers found themselves stuck in a frustrating loop of failed logins and blocked transactions. What should have been one of the most profitable days for shoppers and retailers quickly turned into hours of uncertainty as the bank’s digital systems struggled under intense pressure.

According to user reports collected by outage-monitoring platform Downdetector, complaints began pouring in shortly after 9am. The early morning spike suggested a widespread issue affecting both the FNB mobile app and certain card authentication processes.

Customers attempting to log into the FNB app were met with a familiar but unwelcome message: “Request cannot be processed. We are unable to process your request at the moment. The cause is being investigated. Please try again later.”

This disruption struck at the worst possible time. Black Friday is one of the busiest shopping periods in South Africa, and many customers rely heavily on digital banking for instant payments, one-time PIN approvals, virtual card transactions, and online shopping. For many, the outage meant abandoned carts, double payments, failed orders, or delays in securing limited-time deals.

FNB, however, insists the app did not completely go down. Speaking to multiple news outlets, the bank attributed the intermittent failures to exceptionally high transaction volumes. According to its spokesperson, FNB recorded a 50% year-on-year increase in virtual card transactions by 08:05—an unprecedented surge that placed enormous load on its systems.

The bank emphasised that transactions were still being processed “in their thousands,” but acknowledged that some customers would experience delays or temporary access challenges. Other banking channels reportedly remained fully functional.

Meanwhile, social media erupted with complaints, as users struggled to authenticate payments. Some payment providers—aware of the developing situation—began switching customers to FNB’s fallback one-time PIN (OTP) system. While this method significantly slows down the payment process, it offered a temporary workaround while the app continued to experience strain.

Retail platforms also reacted quickly. Bash, the online shopping arm of TFG, issued a notice warning users that FNB card payments might fail and encouraged shoppers to retry or switch to alternative payment methods.

A Pattern of Digital Disruptions

This is not an isolated incident for FNB or even South Africa’s digital infrastructure. In October 2025, FNB’s stockbroking and portfolio management platform suffered a prolonged outage due to issues with a third-party service provider. The problem left many investors unable to access their portfolios for over a day.

Beyond FNB, other major platforms and institutions have experienced notable downtime this year.

• A major gov.za online outage took several government websites offline after a cable break resulted in congested backup links.

• Bank Zero experienced downtime in August following extended maintenance.

  
  
  

• Discovery’s medical aid and rewards platforms suffered multiple service interruptions in October, leaving users unable to access essential online services.

These repeated disruptions raise broader questions about infrastructure capacity, rising digital demand, and whether South Africa’s major organisations are adequately prepared for peak traffic moments.

FAQs

Why did the FNB app experience issues on Black Friday?

The bank reported unusually high transaction volumes, especially from virtual card payments, which resulted in intermittent failures.

Was the FNB app completely down?

No. According to FNB, the app continued processing thousands of transactions, but many users experienced login errors and slow responses.

Could customers still make online payments?

Some payment platforms enabled fallback OTP authentication, providing an alternative—though slower—way to complete transactions.

Is this the first major FNB outage in 2025?

No. FNB’s stockbroking platform went offline in October due to issues with a third-party service provider.

Were other companies affected by outages this year?

Yes. Government online services, Bank Zero, and Discovery also experienced significant digital disruptions in recent months.