Should BPI customers affected by ‘duplicate debit’ glitch be compensated by the bank? This lawmaker thinks so

A bank officer talks to customers waiting to get inside the Bank of the Philippine Islands branch on Panay Avenue in Quezon City on Wednesday. The bank said a system glitch affected their computer system resulting in unauthorized transactions in various accounts. Fernando G. Sepe Jr., ABS-CBN News
A bank officer talks to customers waiting to get inside the Bank of the Philippine Islands branch on Panay Avenue in Quezon City on Wednesday. The bank said a system glitch affected their computer system resulting in unauthorized transactions in various accounts. Fernando G. Sepe Jr., ABS-CBN News

After a “double debit” glitch recorded unauthorized deductions from Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) account holders yesterday, a lawmaker wants the bank to compensate affected users without being made to sign waivers.

Albay Rep. Joey Salceda, vice-chair of the House Committee on Banks and Financial Intermediaries, said that he would be watching out for any “speed bumps” that BPI may encounter in resolving the issue, as the bank vowed to reverse the transactions within the day.

Angry users flooded BPI’s social media accounts yesterday as they reported deductions from their accounts, with users complaining that they were debited twice for recent transactions, while others claimed they lost money ranging from four to six figures.

The bank attributed the error to the double posting of transactions that took place between Dec. 30 to 31, and assured its clients that the reversal of these transactions would be made automatically.

Yet Salceda said that the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP; Philippine Central Bank) should continue to investigate the incident and assess the banking system’s potential weaknesses, even as BPI resolves the issue immediately.

“The recent incident of double debiting and incorrect entry of balance details in BPI mobile banking accounts shows how prone to widespread glitches our financial cyberspace remains,” Salceda said.

Salceda said the House Committee on Banks is expecting a report from the BSP. Meanwhile, the BSP said it has directed BPI to submit a timeline on the reversal of its double-debit error.




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