People’s Bank announces technical error caused Rs. 65 crore overpayment to customers. Recovery process initiated. Bank assures stability unaffected.
People’s Bank has officially announced that due to a technical error in a remittance system used for foreign currency transfers, a group of customers received amounts higher than what they were entitled to.
According to a media release issued by the bank, this error occurred during the conversion of exchange rates from one currency unit to another. Bank authorities have taken steps to rectify this error, which was recently identified.
The estimated financial impact caused by the system error is approximately Rs. 656 million.
Since this amount has already been included in the financial statements published by the bank for the relevant period, no further financial impact is expected going forward, according to current calculations.
The process of recovering the overpaid amounts from customers who received excess money during the relevant period has already been successfully initiated.
The bank has conducted an internal investigation as soon as the error was identified and has taken steps to further strengthen the relevant operational processes. Further investigations into the matter are also underway on the instructions of regulatory and supervisory authorities, including the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.
People’s Bank, emphasizing that this situation does not affect the bank’s stability, points out that it is a strong financial institution with assets of approximately Rs. 3.8 trillion.
Therefore, the bank assures that there is no impact whatsoever on the bank’s financial stability, profitability, or the security of customer deposits.
The release further states that People’s Bank’s day-to-day banking operations, digital banking facilities, and all customer services are already functioning safely and as usual.
