UCO Bank approaches CBI for probing IMPS glitch, says systems safe

State-owned lender says it has recovered 79% of wrongly credited amount after the glitch

State-owned UCO Bank has approached the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to investigate any attempt, including cyberattacks, aiming to manipulate the lender and disrupt the functioning of Immediate Payment Service (IMPS).
 

 UCO Bank Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Ashwani Kumar did not elaborate if there had been a cyberattack on the bank’s system, but he told Business Standard the lender was ascertaining the exact nature of the problem. The Kolkata-based bank on Wednesday said it took the IMPS channel offline after it faced an internal technical glitch between November 10 and November 13. It had observed that certain transactions — as much as Rs 820 crore — were credited to the account holders in UCO Bank in an erroneous transfer.
 

The lender 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, the bank blocked the recipients’ accounts and has been able to retain and recover around Rs 649 crore of Rs 820 crore, which is about 79 per cent of the amount,” UCO Bank said in a BSE filing. The bank’s shares closed at Rs 39.22 per unit, down 1.53 per cent on the BSE. Kumar said the bank was 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 has reported a 20.4 per cent decline in its net profit for the quarter ended September at 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 year-ago period.