Africa

Ethiopian Bank Glitch Let Customers Withdraw Millions They Didn’t Hold In Their Accounts

Published

8 months ago

March 21, 2024

Over the weekend, Ethiopia’s biggest commercial bank witnessed a “systems glitch” which allowed customers to withdraw millions. The bank has since released a statement saying that there was no cyber attack and its security has not been compromised as it scrambles to recoup the large sums of money withdrawn.

What happened?

On Saturday (Mar 16) morning, customers of the state-owned Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) discovered that they were able to withdraw more cash than what was in their account.

This, as expected, led to a frenzy. According to reports, most of the money that was withdrawn during the glitch was by university students as news spread quickly via phone calls and text messages.

A student in western Ethiopia told the BBC that long lines formed outside campus ATMs and people kept withdrawing money till police officers arrived and stopped them.

The “systems glitch” lasted for hours and more than $100 million was withdrawn or transferred to other banks, according to local media reports.

Bank responds

During a press conference, on Monday (Mar 18), CBE president Abe Sano said over 490,000 “unhealthy and illegal” banking transactions were made and processed.

However, he did not confirm the amount of money withdrawn but said that the loss incurred was small compared to the bank’s total assets.

Meanwhile, a report by Fortune citing sources said around 66,000 transactions took place during the glitch and suggested that as much as six billion birr or ($105 million) was withdrawn.

Sano also clarified that the bank’s cyber security has not been compromised and that the customers’ money is safe.

“There have been attempted cyber attacks but the bank’s cyber security was not compromised,” the CBE president told the press in the capital city of Addis Ababa.

According to the CBE president, the glitch occurred while they were working to improve their banking system and the problem was attributed to a “missing code”. They also suspended their service at the time in a bid to prevent additional loss, said Sano.

The CBE president said that an investigation into the transactions is underway and customers who have made “high transactions” have been reported to the authorities. Meanwhile, universities have released statements asking students to return the money which did not belong to them.

The CBE president assured that returning the money would not be charged with a criminal offence.

(With inputs from agencies)

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