ATM users get their cash back
OUTAGE SAW SOME CUSTOMERS’ ACCOUNTS INCORRECTLY DEBITED
Money was incorrectly debited following a banking system outage
Money that was incorrectly debited on Saturday following a banking outage is being returned to some customers’ accounts. Khalid Majid, an Emirates NBD customer, tweeted yesterday that he had received the full balance that was incorrectly debited from his account. A day earlier, Majid told Gulf
News that a substantial amount was debited from his account following several failed attempts to withdraw cash from ATMs ( automatic teller machines) in Sharjah on Saturday.
One of the affected banks, Emirates NBD, referred to the glitch as a “technical issue” on Twitter on Saturday and later as an “outage” in a statement on Sunday.
‘ Slowed connectivity’
It is unclear what exactly caused the glitch that impacted “several banks”, according to payment solutions provider Network International who said on Sunday that it was a result of a “slowed connectivity grid leading to a queue up of transactions.”
Network International did not respond to further requests for comment on the outage at the time of going to press.
Uzma Atcha, another Emir- ates NBD customer, told Gulf
News she had a similar experience on Saturday, with money debited from her account despite the ATM transactions failing. She said that amount was returned to her account yesterday
However, not everyone has been as lucky as Majid and Atcha. Sheila, who spoke to
Gulf News on Sunday, said the incorrectly debited amount had not been returned to her account by yesterday afternoon. She said Emirates NBD had previously told her the amount would be deposited within 24 hours.
Emirates NBD did not respond to a request for comment by deadline.
Yesterday, Gulf News reader Nisar said that Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank ( ADCB) had been impacted by the outage.
Loyalty points
An ADCB spokesperson confirmed to Gulf News that a “technical incident” occurred with its credit card provider on Saturday.
“In most cases, the impacted transactions were immediately reversed automatically and the remaining transactions were reversed subsequently.”
The ADCB spokesperson said affected customers were informed by SMS, and as a gesture of courtesy, the bank has credited equivalent loyalty points for the impacted transactions.