At least six Australian banks hit by network outages including Ubank and Bank Australia

Online services for Ubank, Bank Australia, Defence Bank, Beyond Bank, People’s Choice and P&N Bank were down on Thursday. Photograph: RBA/PR IMAGE

Several Australian banks appeared to be hit with technical issues that caused outages and left customers unable to make online transfers or use mobile banking apps on Thursday.

Banks including Ubank, Bank Australia, Defence Bank, Beyond Bank, People’s Choice and P&N Bank had warnings on their website on Thursday evening that several features including online transfers, smartphone apps and the use of Osko – a secure payment service – were unavailable.

A network outage at Data Action, a software company which provides online banking services to many newer so-called “challenger banks”, appears to be the cause of the outages, reports iTnews.

“Data Action is experiencing a network outage that is affecting banking services for our clients and their customers, who are having difficulty accessing internet banking or their mobile banking app,” a Data Action spokesperson told iTnews.

The spokesperson said the company had logged a series of incidents in the past 24 hours “and our teams are working hard to identify the causes and resolve these issues as quickly as possible”.

“We are in constant contact with our clients to keep them updated of any new information as it comes to hand. We’re so sorry for the frustration this is causing, and we are doing our utmost to fix it and restore full functionality for our clients and their customers,” the Data Action spokesperson said.

Guardian Australian contacted Data Action for comment.

The disruptions began earlier on Thursday.

Ubank, owned by NAB, first warned customers of issues around 12pm.

“We’re currently experiencing intermittent issues with our app and online banking. We understand this is frustrating and that some customers who are trying to perform their usual banking activities, like moving their money between accounts, are experiencing difficulties,” a Ubank message said.

By 5pm, the company said it was still working to fix its app and online banking.

“Like some other banks, we’ve identified the issue with a third-party vendor and are working with them to resolve it. This continues to affect our app, online banking and Osko payments. We’re sorry for any inconvenience this may cause our customers,” Ubank said.