Ireland’s Minister for Finance, Michael McGrath, has requested an investigation into the resilience of banking technology infrastructure following a recent glitch with Bank of Ireland’s (BoI) mobile banking app. This technical error allowed customers to appear as though they could withdraw free money.
The issue was first identified on Sunday evening when BoI’s mobile app mistakenly enabled users to transfer up to €500 to a Revolut account, regardless of their actual bank balance. The situation quickly gained traction on social media, resulting in long lines outside BoI branches nationwide as customers rushed to withdraw cash from ATMs.
However, the prospect of free money evaporated when the bank later announced that the error had been rectified, clarifying that withdrawals would actually be deducted from customers’ accounts, even if it exceeded their available funds.
In the wake of the incident, McGrath is demanding clarity, stating, “I have asked the Central Bank of Ireland to establish a full account of what happened, why it happened, and what measures will be implemented to prevent a recurrence. My officials have been in contact with both the Central Bank and Bank of Ireland today.”
The Minister is also initiating a broader review of the technology infrastructure used in banking, emphasizing the importance of robustness in these systems. “Given our increasing reliance on technology for financial services, I have requested my officials to work with the Central Bank to assess the implications of this Bank of Ireland incident and the overall stability of the technology systems used by regulated customer-facing financial service providers in Ireland, as well as to determine if additional measures are necessary to mitigate the risk of outages affecting customers,” he stated.
This incident is not isolated; ATMs have been in the spotlight in Ireland recently. AIB had to reverse plans to eliminate cash services in 70 of its 170 branches following customer backlash. Moreover, this is not the first time Bank of Ireland has encountered IT issues; in 2021, it faced a €24.5 million fine from the central bank due to long-standing deficiencies in its IT systems.