Bank of Ireland glitch let customers withdraw money they didn’t have

The bank announced the resolution of a "technical issue" that not only permitted transfers exceeding customer limits but also rendered its online banking and mobile app services temporarily unavailable. That caused an unusual volume of activity at several machines in Dublin and elsewhere. Although services were reinstated overnight, customers’ balances had not been accurately updated and online banking services remained disturbed. Some of them expressed concerns in social media about being unable to confirm the clearance of monthly rent or mortgage payments, also accidental overdrafts or difficulties reaching support services to discuss a repayment plan. Revolut stated that substantial sums being transferred into certain customers' accounts from Bank of Ireland. During the Bank of Ireland outage, several customers shared on social media that they could transfer funds into their Revolut digital banking app and subsequently withdraw them from an ATM.

11 Japan Banks Disrupted by Glitches at Money Transfer System

Japan's Zengin interbank data communication system encountered disruptions, affecting over 1.4 million interbank money transfers across 11 banks, including major institutions like MUFG Bank, Resona Bank, and Shoko Chukin Bank, as well as various regional banks. Approximately 400,000 payments faced delays, as reported by the system's operator. The Payment Clearing Network of Japanese Banks expressed uncertainty regarding the cause and duration of the issue, marking the first instance of customers being impacted by a system problem since the network's inception in 1973. The problem is attributed to a defect in a relay computer linking the Zengin system and each financial institution. In response, the operator employed alternative methods to manage the disrupted transactions by the end of the same day.

Customers Face Challenges with Deposit Delays at Major American Banks

In November, customers at major banks, including Bank of America, Chase, Trust, U.S. Bank, and Wells Fargo, encountered delays in direct deposits due to an industry-wide processing issue. The Federal Reserve reported a problem with the Electronic Payments Network, a private sector operator for Automated Clearing House (ACH), a network that processes transactions. The issue was attributed to a processing error in an ACH file the previous night, characterized as a manual error associated with the file. Banks acknowledged the situation, with statements indicating awareness of the industry-wide technical problem impacting some deposits on that day. Despite these acknowledgments, specific details about the nature of the complaints were not provided on the reporting site.

A series of Digital Banking disruptions at DBS Bank

In 2023, DBS Bank encountered five significant outages, with four attributed to bugs or software issues causing access problems for customers utilizing internet and mobile banking, electronic payment, and ATM services. Recent disruptions were identified as stemming from human error or software bugs within the bank's vendor systems. In response, DBS Bank is actively planning to recruit additional engineering talent to address potential issues deeply embedded within its technology systems. Simultaneously, the bank is working on a comprehensive set of measures to enhance service availability. To support these efforts, a special budget of S$80 million has been allocated to fortify system resiliency, aiming for a more robust recovery process by the end of the first quarter of 2024.