MANILA, Philippines — The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said it found lapses in the operations of Ayala-led Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), leading to the glitch that paralyzed the services of the country’s oldest bank for two days in June.
BSP Deputy Governor Chuchi Fonacier said the central bank has completed an investigation into the incident that was caused by an internal processing error that affected the operations of BPI on June 7 and 8.
“The BSP investigation is complete,” she said adding the inquiry showed operational lapses on the part of BPI.
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, resulting 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 bank’s nationwide operations was not a hack.
BPI executive vice president for enterprise Ramon Jocson, on the other hand, said a system programmer who was in a rush to post transactions caused the internal programming error that affected 1.5 million out of its eight million depositors.
The glitch likely affected 540,000 transactions per day. BPI has 827 branches nationwide that handle 850,000 transactions per day.
Early this week, the BSP imposed sanctions on Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. after it fell prey to an internal fraud involving P1.75 billion worth of funds allegedly perpetuated by a former top executive.