The bank is reportedly trying to recover more than $40 million.
Ethiopian Commercial Bank, Ethiopia’s largest bank, is facing serious financial difficulties after a technical glitch caused customers to withdraw more than their account balances. The bank is currently trying to recover a reported $40 million, according to reports. British Broadcasting Corporation.
Local media reported that college students were the first to exploit the loophole, spreading the word on social media and withdrawing large amounts of funds. The exact amount of the withdrawal remains unclear, with the bank confirming only 500,000 transactions during the outage. However, one local newspaper estimated the damage at around $42 million, according to news media reports.
Fortunately, Ethiopian officials have ruled out the possibility of a cyber attack and attributed the incident to a routine system update gone wrong. Banking systems were shut down for several hours to resolve the issue, leaving customers temporarily unable to withdraw cash.
A student in western Ethiopia tells of long lines at campus ATMs British Broadcasting Corporation Amhara people were withdrawing money until police arrived on campus to stop them.
The student, who is studying at Jimma University Polytechnic, said he “didn’t believe it” when his friend told him around 01:00 local time (22:00 GMT) that he could withdraw large amounts from an ATM. is real” or use your bank’s app to transfer money.
Another student at Dira University in southern Ethiopia said some of his classmates withdrew money from CBE between midnight and 2:00 local time.
Banking operations in Ethiopia were temporarily closed for several hours to resolve the issue, leaving customers unable to withdraw cash. Founded in 1963, the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia is the country’s largest bank, serving 40 million individual customers.
