February 6, 2022 1:02 PM
PETALING JAYA: A consumer group has asked a local bank to investigate the cause of the bank’s error that left many accounts frozen and customers in debt.
Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (Fomca) president N Marimuthu said it was asking CIMB Bank Bhd to investigate if the “processing error” by the bank, which led to a number of customers receiving duplicate credits in their accounts, had any element of fraud.
“Fomca is asking CIMB to investigate if the error was an inside job.
“We understand that errors happen, but the source of such a massive error must be ascertained and action taken as it will affect the confidence in banks in the country,” he told FMT.
Marimuthu also said that since the error lay with CIMB, it should not penalise the affected customers.
Fomca said it was made aware that a few cases involved huge sums and the customers had withdrawn and already spent the money. This made the situation more complex for the bank to recover the funds.
Fomca also urged affected customers to be honest and not to capitalise on the error by taking money that is not theirs to begin with.
“If you know the money may not be yours, find out and clarify with the bank before spending it,” said Marimuthu.
On Thursday, Bank Negara Malaysia told FMT that CIMB was trying to recover the excess amounts credited to its customers.
The central bank said it had asked CIMB to ensure that whatever “recovery” measures it was taking would not burden the customers, especially those who were unaware that excess money had flowed into their accounts.
It also said an investigation into the incident was currently in progress and that it would take appropriate supervisory and enforcement action if warranted.
CIMB, in a statement to FMT, said a processing error related to a specific third-party financial remittance service led to transfers made to customers being accidentally processed twice.
“This resulted in affected customers receiving duplicate credits into their account, that is a duplicate transaction which effectively doubled the total amount of funds received by the customer.”
It said it was now trying to recover the payments mistakenly made to the customers.