BSP completes BPI inquiry; no sanctions yet

MANILA, Philippines -  The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has wrapped up its investigation on the glitch that paralyzed the nationwide operations of Ayala-led Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) last June.

BSP Deputy Governor Chuchi Fonacier said the central bank’s Supervision and Examination Sector (SES) has completed its inquiry into the supposed internal data processing error that affected the operations of BPI last June 6.

“We’ve finished investigation on BPI,” she said.

Both the Senate and the House of Representatives launched an inquiry into the incident wherein a programmer of the listed bank committed an error in judgment that resulted IN the internal data processing error wherein incorrect balances were reflected in the accounts of depositors.

During the inquiry at the Senate, BPI officials led by president and CEO Cezar Consing said the glitch that affected the nationwide operations of the country’s third largest bank was 100 percent not a hack.

BPI executive vice president for enterprise Ramon Jocson said a system programmer who was in a rush to post transactions caused the internal programming error that affected 1.5 million depositors.

In a separate hearing at the House of Representatives, Consing said as much as P46 million was accidentally withdrawn by clients during the height of the “mis-posting” of account balances on June 7 and 8.

Fonacier said the BSP is still determining the possible sanctions, if any, to be imposed against the Ayala-led bank.

“As to sanction, we’re still doing our internal processes and have yet to elevate the matter to the Monetary Board,” she added.

BSP deputy director Melchor Plabasan earlier said during the hearing at the Senate the regulator would issue a revised regulation requiring banks and other financial institutions to ensure that their respective information technology (IT) and security systems are resilient.

Lower trading gains as well as the absence of one-off income pulled down the net profit of BPI by 7.7 percent to P11.7 billion in the first half from P12.7 billion in the same period last year.