Teacher
Professional
- Messages
- 2,669
- Reaction score
- 819
- Points
- 113
A technological miscalculation has become a gold mine for several thousand local students.
Ethiopia's largest bank suffered a glitch that allowed users to withdraw an unlimited amount of funds, resulting in bank losses of over $ 40 million.
The Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE), the country's largest state-owned lending institution, faced a major problem when a technical glitch allowed customers to withdraw money without restrictions, regardless of their balance.
The failure was detected on the morning of March 16, after which the bank temporarily suspended its services to fix the problem. Abe Sano, the bank's president, soon assured customers that their funds were safe and that the problem was not related to a cyber attack. He apologized for the inconvenience and said that the operation of ATMs has already been restored.
At a press conference on March 18, Sano claimed that most of the unauthorized withdrawals were made by students. Several universities in western Ethiopia have already called on students to return illegally received funds, promising not to bring them to criminal responsibility in case of return.
However, a student from Jimma University who agreed to share the information with reporters said that he had not heard of any cases of money being returned, or that anyone he knew intended to return it.
Technological systems, like any other system, are vulnerable to failures and errors that can have serious financial and reputational consequences. Banks and other financial institutions should invest heavily in robust security and backup systems, as well as training staff to respond to emergencies to avoid such situations.
The prevention and prompt resolution of such incidents is paramount to maintaining customer trust and protecting the organization's assets. In the meantime, customers should also be ethical and accountable for their actions, even if a technical glitch has given them an opportunity for abuse.
Ethiopia's largest bank suffered a glitch that allowed users to withdraw an unlimited amount of funds, resulting in bank losses of over $ 40 million.
The Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE), the country's largest state-owned lending institution, faced a major problem when a technical glitch allowed customers to withdraw money without restrictions, regardless of their balance.
The failure was detected on the morning of March 16, after which the bank temporarily suspended its services to fix the problem. Abe Sano, the bank's president, soon assured customers that their funds were safe and that the problem was not related to a cyber attack. He apologized for the inconvenience and said that the operation of ATMs has already been restored.
At a press conference on March 18, Sano claimed that most of the unauthorized withdrawals were made by students. Several universities in western Ethiopia have already called on students to return illegally received funds, promising not to bring them to criminal responsibility in case of return.
However, a student from Jimma University who agreed to share the information with reporters said that he had not heard of any cases of money being returned, or that anyone he knew intended to return it.
Technological systems, like any other system, are vulnerable to failures and errors that can have serious financial and reputational consequences. Banks and other financial institutions should invest heavily in robust security and backup systems, as well as training staff to respond to emergencies to avoid such situations.
The prevention and prompt resolution of such incidents is paramount to maintaining customer trust and protecting the organization's assets. In the meantime, customers should also be ethical and accountable for their actions, even if a technical glitch has given them an opportunity for abuse.
