'We experienced a software breakdown on February 22, 2008 and were thus unable to perform certain operations with the natural person accounts. For one thing, no new accounts could be opened; nor could our customers get any statements of their accounts, even though the balance was available from any ATM or office,’ the spokesperson for Alfa Bank’s Yekaterinburg branch Evgeniy Vladykin said to UrBC.

'All the problems were solved during the day, so our customers could be serviced properly again. As we never got a single complaint, I would think no psychological damage was done,’ the spokesperson noted.

'We’ve never had any problems of such sort before, not on such a scale, at least. As for the bank’s branches in the other parts of the country, no news of breakdowns were reported whatsoever,’ Mr. Vladykin said.