国际英语新闻：National Australia Bank's glitch affects other major banks in Australia

CANBERRA, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- All major banks in Australia said on Saturday they have been affected by National Australia Bank's ( NAB's) ongoing technical problems, which could continue until next week.

NAB, one of the Australia's biggest banks, was scrambling to process payments to millions of customers, who potentially face days of uncertainty about when they will be able to access their money.

A corrupted file in the NAB's computers on Wednesday jammed its payment system, the problem have still not been resolved.

According to Fairfax newspapers, Commonwealth Bank, Australia and New Zealand Bank, Westpac, HSBC and Citi have all confirmed that some customer transactions have been affected by the errors in the NAB's data processing.

As NAB clears payments for other banks in Australia, the transactions to other banks, payroll deposits and direct debits have been affected.

The executive director of the Australian Retailers' Association, Russell Zimmerman, complaint the possible impact on the weekend's trade.

"It is a huge disappointment for the retail industry, and for those people who have been relying on their funds to come in from their wages and can't access them," he told Canberra Times on Saturday.

"People have to be aware that if they are going to use taxis, or load up their supermarket trolleys, they could get to the counter and find they can't process their sales."

Meanwhile, NAB customers expressed anger, grief and disbelief that such a crippling problem could hit one of the big four banks.

NAB's 135 branches will be open on Saturday morning to help customers get access to their money.

Spokesman George Wright said NAB will continue working over the weekend to fix the issue.

He added that any charges incurred because of the computer failure would be covered by the bank. However, customers would have to make their own arrangements to contact the NAB.

Ironically, NAB chief executive Cameron Clyne said earlier this week customers were beginning to appreciate the bank's efforts to differentiate itself from its rivals.