BSP-Bacolod: Bank glitches probe on

THE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) in Bacolod City has yet to receive an advisory from its head office in Manila relative to the system glitches experienced recently by major banks in the country.

Job Nepomuceno, deputy director general of BSP-Bacolod Branch, said the agency particularly its Supervision and Examination Sector is still conducting the investigation.

On June 7, clients, especially automated teller machine (ATM) card holders, of the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) were affected by the bank’s system glitch.

The BPI said all its electronic channels were temporarily closed to speed up resolution of an internal system error related to transaction mispostings.

Some clients claimed that the glitch, which was fully resolved after two days, has caused deductions in their account balances despite no transactions were made.

On June 16, the Banco de Oro (BDO) Unibank said that it received reports of “potentially compromised” ATMs after some cardholders claimed to have lost money in their accounts.

In Negros Occidental and Bacolod City, Nepomuceno said they have not received any complaint regarding unauthorized transactions which led to account deductions.

“BSP-Bacolod cannot directly act on complaints regarding bank glitches as it is under the Monetary Stability Sector,” Nepomuceno pointed out. “We can still assist clients by facilitating their concerns and forwarding it to appropriate sector or department.”

Most complaints currently received by BSP-Bacolod Branch are relative to deposits, loans, titles, and rate of interest, among others.

Clients can write a formal complaint so that it can be brought to the attention of the agency’s Financial Consumer Protection Section, Nepomuceno said.

He added that part of its Consumer Assistance Mechanism, the agency assists clients by bringing their concerns to the attention of concerned banks or accredited financial institution.

“It’s not the BSP who will act as judge, it will just help facilitate the concerns for immediate resolution,” Nepomuceno added.

The Senate committee on banking, financial institutions and currencies conducted a hearing on bank glitches last week.

During the inquiry, the BPI ruled out hacking as the cause of glitch which affected some 1.5 million clients.

BDO earlier reported to BSP that the incident was caused by a “localized skimming attack.”

The bank, however, assured the public that there is no cause for alarm over the reported glitch that caused the reported unauthorized transactions.

“ATMs are compromised every now and then, with skimming being the most common form,” a bank official said.

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