SPEAKING OUT
Ignacio R. Bunye
The key to the success and longevity of a bank is trust. Once more, Bank of the Philippine Islands established its trustworthiness with the expert and quick resolution of an incident which occurred on Jan. 4.
BPI’s systems double-posted transactions that were made on ATMs, CAM, POS and on-line debit cards during the period Dec. 30 and Dec. 31.
In his brief note, BPI President and CEO Jose Teodoro “TG” Limcaoco told the BPI board:
“We discovered the errors in the early morning of Jan. 4 and began investigations right away. While we are still ascertaining the root cause, it looks like that missing data for transactions done at that time caused the double posting.
“We addressed the public shortly before 9 a.m. and began corrective actions just before noon.
“I believe we should have all transactions corrected soon.
“As I write this, over 91 percent have been corrected.”
Expectedly, the incident trended on social media. Fortunately, BPI’s quick response and the reassurance that “BPI would correct the balances by the end of the day” and that “all accounts are safe and secure” negated initial adverse reaction.
Depositor Darwin Labor wrote: “Thank you! Kahit ₱1.6 million na debit sa akin, confident akong mare-reverse. And you did!”
Depositor Myca Lacurom Dagalea: “I never doubted your service. Thank you to the team behind restoring our accounts.”
Throughout the day, BPI was in touch with the Bangko Sentral, which was advised of the situation and of BPI’s actions.
Parenthetically, the incident happened just a few days after EVP Mon Jocson retired from BPI. Jocson had been in charge of, among many others, the A-Team that responds to this type of contingency.
Congratulations Mon, you certainly left behind a superbly prepared team.