By Andrea Hargraves 
The concern of thousands of taxpayers is the prime suspect behind the phenomenon that, for a few hours, has brought down the mobile applications of many financial institutions. Several industry sources contacted by Negócios shared the conviction.
During Thursday morning, there were “extraordinary” rises in the volume of mobile app access from Caixa Geral de Depósitos, Novo Banco, Santander, Montepio and Banco CTT.
In some cases, more than five times the number of people wanting to access the apps at once was the usual number, as Negócios knows. The co-working of clients – but not premeditatedly – caused mobile apps to be unavailable for several hours and, to a lesser extent, some ‘home banking’ sites.
Why is there such a large increase in the number of accesses? It is impossible to know with absolute certainty – only bank customers know their reasons for opening the applications – but it is no coincidence that it happened on the same day that 500,000 taxpayers began receiving a €125 subsidy from the state to counteract the general increase in prices.
“It might have been a concern to see if they had actually received the transfer,” says one of the sources. Another notes, “It will certainly be related to that fact.” “It shows the country we have,” another country admits, referring to the average salaries of the population, which is lower than other countries.
The banks that Negócios called throughout the day confirmed the difficulties she had felt in the morning. However, Caixa Geral de Depositos, Novo Banco, Santander, Montebio and Banco CTT did not provide reasons for this phenomenon.
Among the major banks, the problem was not felt at BCP and BPI, who preferred not to comment.
There was no attack on the computer
The hypothesis is reinforced by the fact that all financial institutions have ignored the hypothesis that this phenomenon was the result of a computer attack. Many market sources tell Negócios that it was a phenomenon of legitimate access to websites and “apps” – the problem was the quantity rather than the nature or source of the requests.
Normal life resumed in the afternoon
After feeling the problem in the morning, things were back to normal in the afternoon. Official sources from the main affected banks confirmed to Negosios that normal life gradually resumed from lunchtime, after the peak in the volume of entries during the morning.