Banking and paycheques possibly impacted in Canada due to global tech outage

A massive global technical outage is impacting banking systems around the world and possibly in Canada.

The outage is impacting Microsoft users across the globe today (July 19).

Banks and other financial institutions from Australia to India and South Africa warned clients about disruptions to their services, according to news reports. Experts suggest people don’t make bank transfers or do other banking today.

The issue also grounded flights and took media outlets off air on Friday. Porter Airlines and many other airlines out of Pearson Airport are also impacted by the outage. There are reports hospital systems are also impacted.

Microsoft users globally, several in India, have reported massive outages in services.

Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrikes has said the company’s “Falcon Sensor” software is causing Microsoft Windows to crash. CrowdStrike said it was not a security incident or cyberattack. Reports indicate CrowdStrike has identified issue but it is taking time to implement.

So far, there are some reports of disruptions to banking in Canada, according to posts on social media.

“Today, I woke up without my paycheque,” one Canadian wrote on X. 

“TD having service interruption – I am assuming it (is) because of Microsoft,” another person wrote. 

TD Canada Trust has a message on their EasyWeb login site: “Please be advised that we are currently experiencing higher than normal call volumes today at our Contact Centres. We apologize for the delays and thank you for your patience.”