TOKYO -- According to a report in the Japan Times, about 1,500 of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp.'s ATMs in eastern Japan failed for about an hour the morning of July 15 (midnight July 14 GMT).
FSA Commissioner Shokichi Takagi told the Times that the Financial Services Agency will ask the bank to submit a report outlining the trouble, based on guidelines under the banking law.
"We were informed that there was a problem with the hardware of the communications equipment, and we are investigating the cause," Takagi said. "We will ask for further information and urge the bank to prevent a recurrence."
Bank officials told the Times that malfunctioning telecommunications equipment at a computer center housing the bank's main computer system appears to have caused the problem.
The bank, created April 1, 2001, through the merger of Sumitomo Bank and Sakura Bank, has gradually been integrating the ATM systems of its two predecessors since April. A bank spokesman told the Times that the system failure is believed to be unrelated to the integration procedures, however, as no such work has been performed recently.
Sumitomo has about 7,500 ATMs across Japan, including machines at convenience stores owned by Lawson Inc.
