HSBC chief operating officer John Hackett has taken the unusual step of posting a video on Twitter to apologize for the two days of disruption to online and mobile banking services as UK customers returned to work in the New Year.
In an embarrassing snafu for the bank, up to 17 million personal and business customers were locked out of their accounts for up to nine hours on 4 January, with the problems continuing to hit online and mobile banking services throughout the following day.
In the straight-to-camera Twitter video, Hackett issues a fulsome apology to furious customers: "I wanted say sorry for the inconvenience and frustration many of you have suffered as a result of the Internet banking problems we have had these last couple of days. I also want to reassure you that this was not a cyber attack, it was an internal issue and at no time was your data at risk in any way shape or form".
Hackett goes on to say that no customers will be left out of pocket as a result of the breakdown and points to a Web address where customers can get more information.
Unfortunately, when Finextra clicked on the link we were directed to a slow-to-load blank page.
While some customers on Twitter expressed appreciation at the apology, others were not pacified.
And for others, the online problems persisted.