Ethiopia’s largest bank announced that it has recouped nearly three-quarters of the $14 million it lost due to a technical glitch allowing customers to withdraw more funds than they possessed in their accounts.
Abe Sano, the head of the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE), revealed on Tuesday that approximately $10 million has been recovered, with thousands of customers voluntarily returning the excess cash.
Sano cautioned that individuals who have not returned the funds will face legal consequences.
The majority of the erroneous withdrawals were made by university students.
On March 16th, word of the glitch spread rapidly across campuses, primarily through messaging apps and phone calls, resulting in long queues forming at campus ATMs.
While the bank has not disclosed the exact nature of the glitch, the CBE assured customers that it was not the result of a cyber-attack and reassured them that their personal account information remained secure.
At least three universities released statements advising students to return any money not belonging to them that they may have taken from the bank.
In an interview last week, Mr Abe said the CBE was already in the process of reporting customers to the police.
“There is no way that they can escape because they are digital [transactions] and they are our customers. We know them. They are traceable and they are legally accountable for what they did,” he said.
Initial estimates indicated that over $40 million was affected by the technical malfunction.
According to a CBE representative speaking to the BBC, tracking funds transferred to external banks proved more challenging than tracing amounts relocated within CBE accounts.
A staggering 490,000 transactions occurred before CBE became aware of the issue.
The Commercial Bank of Ethiopia, founded 82 years ago, serves more than 38 million account holders.
