Daven Tamayo

Bangko Sentral reviewing BPI's recent digital downtime

The facade of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, adorned with a new logo featuring a gold-colored, full-bodied Philippine eagle with wings spread upward and stars positioned above,  at the Bangko Sentral Headquarters in Quezon City on February 9, 2024.Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News

Article (news)

Arthur Fuentes

ABS-CBN News

MANILA – The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said Wednesday it is reviewing a major digital banking outage at Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), warning that it will enforce regulatory accountability for the downtime.The BSP confirmed it is monitoring the operational resilience of BPI, one of the country&#x27;s largest lenders, following widespread disruptions to its digital banking channels.&quot;The BSP is aware of the recent service disruptions experienced by BPI clients and is actively coordinating with the Bank to ensure that appropriate measures are taken to address the incident, restore services fully, and mitigate the impact on clients,&quot; the central bank said in a statement.Regulators emphasized that lenders are expected to promptly report major operational incidents and implement necessary corrective actions. The BSP clarified that it does not require formal customer grievances to initiate an official probe into the technological breakdown.&quot;A formal complaint is not required for the BSP to take supervisory action. The BSP conducts independent assessments based on reports submitted by banks, as well as its own monitoring mechanisms,&quot; the regulator stated.The central bank added that it will evaluate the incident in accordance with existing rules on operational and information technology risk management, including the bank’s compliance with service standards.&quot;Where warranted, appropriate supervisory actions will be taken to ensure accountability and prevent recurrence,&quot; the BSP added.The outage began on the evening of June 14, Sunday, with many BPI clients saying they were unable to log in to the bank&#x27;s mobile app or website. The Ayala-led lender also acknowledged that online banking, including the BPI app, use of BPI online credentials on third-party apps and use of BPI Debit and Credit cards for e-commerce, was currently not available.BPI said it was able to fully restore all of these services on Tuesday.

The BSP said it is monitoring the operational resilience of BPI, one of the country's largest lenders, following widespread disruptions to its digital banking channels.

The BSP said it is monitoring the operational resilience of BPI, one of the country's largest lenders, following widespread disruptions to its digital banking channels.