Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Benjamin E. Diokno has assured clients of Union Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank) the bank’s systems glitch which left some funds “floating” will be resolved within the day, Saturday, June 12.
Diokno said that the bad outage since Thursday, June 10, has affected several transactions but “all were properly reflected.”
The BSP chief also said the problem stemmed from “hardware-related issues that resulted in power outage.”
“Everything has been addressed and affected debit transactions will be reversed within the day,” said Diokno.
He added that UnionBank “is addressing issues of affected customers.”
“The complete report from (UnionBank is) expected next week,” said Diokno.
The Aboitiz-led bank, currently applying for digital bank license with the BSP, has been fixing a three-day systems glitch for its faulty deposit and auto reversal system which has left clients unable to access their funds with the bank for the last two to three days.
UnionBank First Vice President James P. Ileto, head of corporate and media affairs, said Friday night that the bank will address the affected transactions “at the soonest possible time” and that “reversals for affected transactions are ongoing.”
Digital wallet GCash, the e-money business of Globe Telecom, issued an advisory last Thursday that GCash InstaPay transfers to and from UnionBank was problematic but reported that services “have been restored”.
Earlier today (June 12), BSP Deputy Governor Chuchi G. Fonacier said the bank’s systems glitch was isolated to InstaPay transfers. InstaPay is an electronic fund transfer service.
BSP Director Mhel Plabasan of the Technology Risk and Innovation Supervision Department said there was “bad outage (in) the last two days” but “everything looks back to normal starting this morning (Saturday).”
Plabasan said they are “awaiting post mortem report from the bank” and that “action on affected transactions is also ongoing.”
Philippine banks face system glitches on a regular basis and cyber-related attacks on a more frequent, almost daily basis. The BSP require banks to report cybersecurity issues and system glitches within two hours of first detection. A more detailed report is expected within 24 hours of the cyber-related crime or technology/IT-related problems.