BPI ATMs remain offline; banking hours extended

MANILA, Philippines - Ayala-led Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) temporarily activated its electronic channels including its ATM (automated teller machine) network, only to deactivate them hours later, as it failed to resolve the internal data processing error that has affected its operations nationwide.

In a situation update released before 11 a.m., BPI said it was forced to deactivate its electronic channels again, after it noted that certain accounts still reflect incorrect balances.

“To allow us to do the necessary adjustments, we will need to deactivate our electronic channels today,” it added.

The country’s oldest bank said all branches of BPI and BPI Family Savings Bank would continue to operate until 7:30 p.m. to service the needs of its eight million depositors.

The listed bank clarified that other banking systems such as credit cards, remittance, SWIFT, equities, brokerage (BPI Trade), investments and loans would remain operational.

“You have our commitment that this internal system issue will be resolved satisfactorily. We reassure our clients that the integrity of their accounts will be maintained,” BPI said in the update.

BPI announced it was able to resolve the internal system error related to incorrect transaction postings and was able to restore access to ATMs at 10 p.m. Wednesday.

It was also able to restore access to all electronic channels at around 7 a.m. yesterday, only to deactivate it again a few hours after.

On Wednesday, BPI president and chief operating officer Cezar Consing assured clients that the bank’s system was not hacked but only suffered a glitch, wherein it picked up the wrong file on Tuesday night.

Due to the internal system error, the bank said some transactions between April 27 and May 2 were double-posted on June 6, resulting in incorrect balances in the accounts of depositors.

Bank officials informed the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) that it would resolve the issue on Wednesday and ensure that none of the depositors would lose money.

Incoming BSP Governor Nestor Espenilla Jr. said the regulator is allowing BPI to resolve the issue first, after which a full-blown investigation would be conducted.

“For today, the focus is be normal, take care of your customers. But tomorrow we have to talk. First things first, if we come in and they’re managing the problem, they’ll be distracted,” Espenilla said.  – With Jess Diaz