The Irish Parliament has raised concerns over the recent glitch that affected the Bank of Ireland and what it means for the wider banking ecosystem in Ireland.
Ireland’s Minister of Finance, Michael McGrath, is now calling for an investigation into the recent blunder that allowed Bank of Ireland customers to withdraw funds that are not in their bank accounts.
The error gained traction on social media earlier this week, resulting in massive queues in front of cash machines. The glitch has since been resolved and the Bank of Ireland has issued an apology, assuring that all funds will be tracked down and returned, even if that means overdrafting accounts.
However, questions were raised in the stability of how robust the bank’s IT system is, with McGrath demanding an explanation from both the Bank of Ireland and the Central Bank.
He said: “I have asked the Central Bank of Ireland to establish a full account of what happened, why it happened and what will be done to avoid a repeat. My officials have been in contact with the Central Bank of Ireland and Bank of Ireland today.”
“Given our growing dependence on technology for the delivery of financial services, I have asked my officials to engage with the Central Bank on its assessment of the robustness of this Bank of Ireland incident, and more broadly the robustness of the technology systems used by regulated, customer-facing financial service providers here in Ireland, and whether any further steps are required to reduce the risk of outages that impact on customers.”
