Ethiopia’s largest bank, the commercial bank of Ethiopia is in a race to recover millions of Birr withdrawn by customers due to a system glitch. Reports from derived from local media suggest that over $40 million (£31 million) was withdrawn or transferred to other banks during the glitch.
A report from BBC states that On Saturday, 16 March 2024, the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia’s customers took advantage of the system glitch, transferred and withdrew more than their account balance.
It was a heavy task, and it took several hours before the bank could halt all kinds of transactions to address the issue.
On Monday, 18 March 2024, the Bank president Abe Sano revealed that a large portion of the withdrawn funds came from state-owned CBE accounts, primarily by students.
The digital media contributed mainly to the spread of the glitch among various universities via messaging apps and phone calls.
An Eyewitness Speaks
An eyewitness, a student in western Ethiopia, informed BBC Amharic of the long queues formed at various ATMs as students rushed to withdraw money. The student further mentioned that the withdrawal process was for an extended period until the police officers arrived on campus to intervene.
The Commercial Bank of Ethiopia was established 82 years ago, and since then has been serving over 38 million account holders.
Ethiopia’s central bank, a body responsible for overseeing the financial sector, released a statement attributing the incident to a “glitch” during routine “maintenance and inspection activities.”
The statement addressed the service interruption following CBE’s freeze on all transactions, omitting details about the funds withdrawn by customers.
Mr. Sano reassured all CBE customers and debunked the rumor that the bank was under a cyber attack. He also mentioned that the losses were minimal compared to the bank’s overall assets.
However, several universities urge students to return any funds they withdrew from CBE as good ambassadors of their institutions and country.
Mr. Sano clarified that individuals who return the money wouldn’t face criminal charges. However, the bank will keep trying to recover the funds regardless of how long it will take.
