Thousands of HSBC customers reported they were unable to access its online and mobile banking services on one of the busiest online shopping days of the year – Black Friday.

More than 4,000 customers said they could not access their accounts via the HSBC app on Friday, according to Downdetector, which tracks and collates website outages and complaints.

At 11pm on Friday, the bank announced on X that its “online and mobile banking services are getting back up and running for all our customers”.

It added: “Once again we’re really sorry, and understand this was deeply frustrating for many of our customers. We’ll continue to work behind the scenes to ensure a full recovery.”

Earlier, the bank said the disruption was “the result of an internal system issue” and that services via its apps and online had been affected, as well as online card purchases.

With 24 November being the last Friday of the month, it will also be payday for some customers. One X user posted in response to HSBC UK’s message: “Literally the worst timing ever. People got paid and have bills to pay.”

Another wrote: “Got to move some money so I can buy some Black Friday purchases (that I don’t need). Maybe it’s a sign!”

Users accessing the HSBC mobile app were being shown a message on Friday morning saying the bank was “performing a system upgrade to bring you a better banking experience”.

The disruption did not affect First Direct or M&S Bank customers.

HSBC, which has about 15 million customers in the UK, has previously announced that it would close a total of 114 physical branches across the country this year.

By the end of this year, the high street bank, which said the closures were in part down to customers making the shift to online banking, will have 327 branches nationwide – down from 590 in 2021.