A software problem at the bank during holiday weekend affected payments that were made by the companies through Bacs system, which processes electronic transactions.
HSBC said that the electronic payments system is used by its business banking customers to make salary payments.
The bank, which planned to complete majority of transactions during Friday afternoon and early evening, partnered with other banks to resolve the issue.
Bloomberg quoted HSBC as stating: "We are committed to ensuring that no one loses out as a result of today’s unacceptable problems.
"We will work with our customers and the other banks, including providing compensation where appropriate."
Quoting an undisclosed person familiar with the matter, Bloomberg reported that the system breakdown is not related to hacking or criminal activity.
Treasury Select Committee chairman Andrew Tyrie said: "This appears to be yet another serious IT failure by one of the major clearing banks."
British multinational banking and financial services company HSBC has total assets of $2.67trillion and has around 6,600 offices in 80 countries and territories.
The bank is organized within four business groups, which include commercial banking; global banking and markets; retail banking and wealth management; and global private banking.
In June, Royal Bank of Scotland suffered a payments glitch, which is said to have affected 600,000 credit as well as direct-debit transactions.
Image: HSBC Building, 8 Canada Square, Canary Wharf, London, UK. Photo: courtesy of Danesman1/Wikipedia.
