Users were struggling to access the FNB app and website on Friday as Black Friday coincided with pay day for many South Africans.

A presumed surge in online activity from Black Friday shopping coinciding with usual pay day activity appears to have toppled FNB’s banking app, with FNB-related complaints on incident monitoring website Downdetector spiking shortly before 10am.

The bank’s website was also under severe pressure, with slow loading times impacting the ability to conduct banking transactions.

When TechCentral attempted to log into the smartphone app, a “request cannot be processed” error popped up and the publication was unable to confirm an order placed online, forcing it to abandon the purchase.

Clients, meanwhile, turned to social media to vent their frustration at not being able to transact on arguably the busiest shopping day of the year. “FNB app down on Black Friday. You can’t make this up!” one angry user posted on X.

The problems were affecting merchants, too, which Checkers warning Sixty60 users were impacted. “Funds may show as deducted but aren’t captured on our system. FNB is working to resolve this ASAP.”

FNB told TechCentral in a short reply to a media query on the ongoing incident: “The FNB app is not down. However, due to extraordinarily high volumes of transactions currently being experienced, some intermittent failures are being reported while thousands are still being successfully processed.”

Read: FNB, Mastercard launch cross-border money transfer platform

In a post on its social media platforms, FNB said: “We’re currently experiencing high transaction volumes. While thousands are processed successfully, some customers may face intermittent FNB app access. We’re monitoring closely and apologise for any inconvenience. All other channels remain fully operational.” — (c) 2025 NewsCentral Media

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