Bank of Ireland’s ATM glitch

Problem with ATMs

While most countries appear to be updating their ATMs with state-of-the-art devices, the Bank of Ireland has suffered an embarrassing glitch with theirs. According to reports, the banks is going to have to refund around 43,000 users after a problem with anti-fraud systems saw money incorrectly debited from their accounts.

The problem also affected other banks' customers, who reportedly failed to take their cash from its ATMs when making a withdrawal. Instead, the ATM's internal monitoring processes reported that users who had forgotten to take their cash should have the amount taken from their accounts.

Most ATMs are programed to ‘pull' money back in after a moment, should customers be distracted and fail to take cash or their cards out at the machine. The debited amount is then automatically credited again.

However it now appears that over an incredible four year period (up until October 2009), the e installation of anti-fraud measures "resulted in the normal system response of automatically prompting a refund to issue not to occur for these particular transactions."

Process of refunding

In a statement, the Bank of Ireland said it was now in the process of refunding €1.3 million to 14,000 of its own customers this week and is working with other banks to help get a further €1.7 million to 29,000 non-customers.

The bank has also apologised for the error and has made Ireland's Financial Regulator aware of the glitch.

While it may seem like an incredibly foolish thing to do considering you go to an ATM for the sole purpose of extracting money, about six people per ATM per year leave cash, card or both in the machine.

The Bank of Ireland also recently received the go-ahead for its restructuring plans, after the financial institution had to be bailed out by the government during the recession.

The bank received a €3.5 billion recapitalisation from the Irish state last year and is also receiving further aid, an estimated €1 billion by Brussels, as its problem loans are transferred to Ireland's National Asset Management Agency. In addition, the Bank of Ireland has benefited from various state guarantees.

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