BSP: Investigation on BPI glitch ‘will take time’

Espenilla won’t rush sanctions vs BPI

Manila — One week after a supposed glitch affected the accounts of clients of the Bank of the Philippine Islands, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said Wednesday that its investigation on the lapses of the Ayala-led lender might take some time.

“We’re not done yet. A thorough inquiry requires time,” BSP Deputy Governor Nestor A. Espenilla Jr. told the Philippine Daily Inquirer, without giving a timetable.

Separately, Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. told reporters that he has not received a report on the investigation, although it was already being prepared by the supervision and examination sector, headed by Espenilla, as of Wednesday.

Last Friday, Espenilla said in a text message that the investigation needed to be done “properly,” hence “will take time.”

When asked in an interview last week if the BSP would slap sanctions against BPI, Espenilla pointed out that it was a case of operational error for the part of the bank.

“We have to first validate if there was really no cybercrime. Then we have to see how they responded, how well they handled the situation. Those are the relevant issues,” Espenilla had told reporters.

“Whether that warrants additional penalty, BPI already received a major penalty because of the impact, a significant chunk of goodwill was eroded because of this incident,” Espenilla had said.

“I’m pretty sure the bank will conduct an internal investigation… If they already punished the person concerned, that’s enough, no need to punish but we need to evaluate,” according to Espenilla.