BPI, Globe glitches add to Ayala troubles
Credit to Author: MAYVELIN U. CARABALLO, TMT| Date: Fri, 12 Apr 2019 16:34:43 +0000
Conglomerate Ayala Corp., still dealing with the fallout of a massive water shortage blamed on unit Manila Water Company Inc., has been hit by fresh troubles courtesy of two other businesses: banking and telecommunications.
A systems upgrade for Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), announced well in advance and supposedly completed over three days last Sunday, has over this week left clients complaining about wrong balances, inaccessible services and other issues.
The system problems were not limited to the bank, with Globe Telecom Inc, customers plagued by connection issues early on Friday.
The matter caught the attention of authorities, with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) saying it was in touch with BPI to resolve the matter and the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) planning to investigate.
“The BSP is aware of the post migration challenges encountered by BPI after the recent upgrade of its core banking system,” BSP Deputy Governor Chuchi Fonacier told The Manila Times.
The central bank, she added, “is now closely coordinating with BPI to ensure that their remediation efforts are on track to restore service levels to their clients.”
Information and Communications Assistant Secretary Allan Cabanlong, meanwhile, said BPI Senior Vice President Mon Jocson was coordinating with the department and had assured that customers should not be alarmed.
“[Jocson said] they are upgrading their systems and it has been restored today,” he told the Times.
“We will still conduct [an] inquiry and will ask them to submit cybersecurity report for recording purposes,” Cabanlong added
Both BPI and Globe apologized for the disruptions and announced that services would be fully restored before the day ended.
Asked about the service disruptions in a chance interview, Ayala Corp. Chief Finance Officer Jose Teodoro Limcaoco told reporters: “We have issues sometimes and [we] just need to resolve them.”
“Everyone knows how we are trying to resolve Manila Water. I think the BPI issue, they’re up already today (Friday). Globe is done. There was a glitch [but] all you have to do is reset your phone and it is okay,” Limcaoco added.
Last month, parts of Metro Manila went without water for days after Manila Water suddenly halted services, blaming the lack of supply from La Mesa Dam in light of an ongoing El Niño.
This prompted Malacañang to intervene and President Duterte has threatened to scrap concessions granted to the utility and rival firm Maynilad Water Services Inc.
In 2017, BPI was also hit by a technical glitch that forced it to suspend online transactions and automated teller machine (ATM)services for two days.
A BSP investigation found operational lapses on the part of the bank.
Given BPI’s problems, attention will now shift to Sy-owned BDO Unibank Inc., which is scheduled to stage its own system upgrade next week.
The bank has said that ATMs, mobile and online banking and debit and cash card transactions will be temporarily inaccessible from 8:00 p.m. on April 19 (Good Friday) to 12 noon on April 20 (Black Saturday).
BDO branches, meanwhile, will be closed from April 18 (Maundy Thursday) to April 21 (Easter Sunday) in observance of the Holy Week.
“We are advising our clients and the general public to perform their banking transactions ahead of this scheduled activity to avoid any inconvenience,” BDO said.
The latest system issues weighed on BPI and Globe’s share prices, which respectively fell by P1.50 to P81.50 and P4 to P1,890 apiece on Friday.
Manila Water closed flat at P23.25 while Ayala ended up P1 at P913 amid a 0.94-percent drop for the benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index.
FROM REPORTS BY ANGELICA BALLESTEROS AND LISBET K. ESMAEL
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