UCO Bank has complained to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) after a technical glitch in its Immediate Payment Service (IMPS), Ashwani Kumar, managing director and chief executive officer of the state-owned lender, told ‘Business Standard’’.
Kumar did not elaborate if there had been a cyber attack on the bank, which said on Wednesday its IMPS channel faced an internal technical glitch from November 10 to November 13. As a precaution, the bank took the channel offline.
Kumar said the bank was ascertaining the exact nature of the problem. The bank has recovered 79 per cent of wrongly credited amount after the IMPS glitch and has initiated action to recover the remaining Rs 171 crore.
“We further inform that by taking various proactive steps, Bank blocked the recipients’ accounts and has been able to retain and recover around Rs 649 crore out of Rs 820 crore which is about 79 per cent of the amount,” said UCO in a BSE filing. As of 12.24 pm on Thursday, UCO Bank stock was trading 1.23 per cent down at Rs 39.34 per share on BSE.
Kumar said the bank is looking to bring IMPS online in two-three days, “subject to rectification and readiness of systems”.
The Reserve Bank of India too is assessing the nature of the glitch.
“The bank re-iterates and assures that all other critical systems are operational and available. The bank continues to provide safe and secure services to customers,” said UCO Bank.
The bank’s net profit for the quarter ended September (Q2FY24) declined 20.4 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) to Rs 402 crore on a decrease in non-interest income and a rise in operating expenses. Sequentially, the Kolkata-based public-sector lender’s profit went up 79.7 per cent in Q2, from Rs 223 crore in the quarter ended June (Q1 FY24).
First Published: Nov 16 2023 | 1:27 PM IST