Senate probe on BPI, BDO glitches will be ‘sensitive’ to confidential matters

BPI branch at Escolta, Manila which occupies the Don Roman Santos Building, former head office of Prudential Bank. (Photo by noel Gonong (Wikipedia Takes Manila participant) – Uploaded from Wikipedia Takes Manila, CC BY-SA 3.0.)

MANILA — Sen. Francis Escudero on Friday assured the Bank of the Philippines Islands (BPI) and the BDO Unibank, Inc. that the upcoming Senate probe into the technical glitches that occurred in the accounts of the banks’ clients will be “sensitive” to confidential matters.

The Senate probe is expected to take place on June 21 (Wednesday).

“We will be sensitive though with confidential matters and will make sure that the hearing will be a vehicle to inform the public of the facts and not to create further speculation, much less panic,” Escudero said in a statement.

Escudero, chair of the Senate committee on Banks, Financial Institutions and Currencies, previously wanted to defer the investigation but changed his mind after the BDO said that it acquired reports of “potentially compromised ATMs.”

The senator said that the purpose of the investigation is to “get the facts to inform the public about the cause of the BPI/BDO ATM issues with a view of preventing further speculations on the matter.”

He further said that the panel will also get information about what is being done to prevent or avoid similar occurrences in the future.

It may be recalled that last week, unauthorized withdrawals, deposits, and double crediting for some BPI account holders caused an online furor.

BPI Senior Vice President Catherine P. Santamaria, in a briefing, stressed that the problem was caused by an internal error and not hacking as claimed by some.

The error covered transactions between April 27 and May 2.

Operations were temporarily halted on June 7. The glitch was resolved the same day.