Aguirre: BPI may be held liable for damages if proven negligent

The Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) may be held liable for the system glitch that affected the balances of some of its customers if proven to be negligent, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said Wednesday.

"Kung totoo yan [claims of missing deposits] then for them [BPI] to be free from liability they must show an exempting or justifiable circumstance," Aguirre told reporters.

"In all probability they should refund unless it's shown na may negligence they must also be [held] liable for negligence."

Aguirre made the statement after an internal data processing error in the BPI's system caused debits and credits from April 27 to May 2 to be double-posted.

While deposits made during the said dates were doubled, withdrawals were likewise processed twice, causing some accounts to register negative balances.

The Ayala-led bank has temporarily suspended all electronic services to ensure no questionable transactions are done while it is correcting the glitch, which it hopes to finish within the day.

BPI, the third biggest bank in terms of assets as of end-2016, currently has over 800 branches and over 4,000 automated teller machines (ATMs) nationwide. — BM, GMA News