BPI eyes 'full resolution' of glitch on Wednesday

MANILA - (2nd UPDATE) Bank of the Philippine Islands, the country's third largest bank, said it aimed to fix within the day on Wednesday a system glitch that caused tens of thousands of pesos to disappear from bank accounts.

BPI President Cezar Consing apologized for the glitch, wherein transactions from April 27 to May 2 were credited twice.

Irate depositors flooded the Ayala-owned bank's social media accounts with complaints early Wednesday. The bank's online channels were inaccessible.

Shortly after noon, the bank said efforts to fix the disruption were "progressing well" and that there would be "full resolution of this error within today."

• READ: BPI: Don't post bank details on social media

"This is not a hack, this is an internal issue. Over the next few hours, we are making sure the double credits, debits are corrected," Consing told ANC's Market Edge with Cathy Yang.

"We wish to reassure our clients that this matter will be resolved expediently, and that none of them will lose money from this incident," the bank said in a separate statement.

Incoming Bangko Sentral Governor Nestor Espenilla described the situation as "unfortunate."

"Seemingly losing money like that is definitely upsetting...We should allow BPI to resolve its internal problem," Espenilla told ANC.

Kim Avelino, a human resource officer in Ortigas, told ABS-CBN News she lost P12,000 due to an "automatic debit."

Avelino said one of her officemates withdrew P2,000 but her account showed a P5,000 deduction.

Their other co-workers reported negative balances in their bank accounts, said Avelino.