Not just server down, but ‘technical glitches’ seems to have become a common term for banks.
The number of glitches in the online banking space seems to be rising, with recent cases surprising everyone – large sums being transferred to wrong bank accounts.
So far, two cases from Bihar have actually uncovered the system issues in the banking system.
A glitch that credited funds
A private tutor in Khagaria was erroneously credited Rs 5.5 lakh in his bank account by the South Bihar Gramin Bank, and two school students in Katihar were credited Rs 960 crore overnight by the North Bihar Gramin Bank.
The tutor has been arrested for not returning the money, according to The Hindu, while the incident that happened with the two school students is under investigation.
For the Katihar case, the bank’s branch manager said that there was some glitch in the computerised system of sending money. The amount was visible in their statements but the actual money wasn’t in their account. For the Khagaria case, however, the money was credited and the tutor claimed that he did not return the money because it was government relief sent to him.
The two incidents have caused havoc, making villagers run to ATMs to check if they too had been struck with such luck, according to NDTV. But, so far, only two such incidents have been reported.
This is, however, not the first time such a ‘glitch’ has happened.
Glitches by Citi, HDFC, PNB
In February, one of the world’s largest banks – Citibank – accidentally transferred $900 million to cosmetic company Revlon’s lenders. Citi was serving as the administrative agent or loan agent between Revlon, the embattled cosmetics company, and its creditors.
The bank accidentally paid those lenders much more than it had to. The bank had to credit only $8 million, but ended up transferring $900 million, according to reports.
The US District Court judge termed this to be the “biggest blunder in banking history”, after the bank had moved the court, because it still had not received $500 million from the accidental transfer.
Apart from erroneous transfers, there have been other incidents of continuous technical glitches to an extent that the Reserve Bank of India banned a top private bank from issuing new credit cards – the bank’s best seller.
HDFC Bank was the bank that was banned for eight months from issuing new credit cards.
The RBI had taken this step after customers faced multiple glitches in the bank’s internet and mobile banking systems for over two years.
On Friday, Punjab National Bank‘s Twitter account was seen flooded with complaints from several customers. They raised concerns over the technical glitches they have been facing throughout this week.
Below are two of the many instances from PNB’s Twitter account –
“Dear customer, we regret the inconvenience caused to you. Our App service is facing glitches due to some technical difficulty. However, our team is working on the same and it will be resolved soon.” – has been the bank’s standard reply to all such complaints.
Glitches in the PNBONE mobile application have been rising. This could be because of the newly built app “PNBONE” after the mega merger of Oriental Bank of Commerce, United Bank of India with Punjab National Bank, sources, who did not wish to be named, said, adding that the tech team is looking to help resolve all the issues for a better banking experience.
At times, customers face technical glitches when banks go for maintenance activities. Failed transactions and reconciliation takes its own time and customers have no choice than waiting and hoping for the seamless service.
Check out our entire coverage on banking sector here
