Thursday, May 02, 2024
The Bangladesh Bank server collapsed on Wednesday sometime after 12:30pm due to a glitch in the National Payment Switch Bangladesh (NPSB) system, which disrupted inter-bank transactions for nearly six hours. The system was fixed around 6.30pm the same day.
Central bank’s ICT Infrastructure Maintenance and Management Department’s Executive Director Muhammad Zakir Hasan said, “We had experienced a technical glitch in our IT system, the issue has been fixed.”
Officials say the IT issue had disrupted transactions through the NPSB system. The NPSB is a domestic ATM sharing network governed by the Bangladesh Bank.
Operational since 2012, the NPSB is meant for establishing interoperability among participating banks for their account and card based transactions.
It caters interbank Automated Teller Machines (ATM), Point of Sales (POS) and Internet Banking Fund Transfer (IBFT) transactions. The mobile financial services (MFS) interoperability is under active consideration as well.
Fifty-three banks are now interconnected through the NPSB for their ATM transactions. Four types of interbank ATM transactions – cash withdrawal, balance enquiry, fund transfer and mini statement – can currently be done through the NPSB.
The average daily number of ATM transactions through the NPSB is around 1,56,374, show the central bank data.
Commenting on the matter, an official of the NRB Commercial Bank said, “A number of clients complained that they were unable to use banks’ debit and credit cards on other bank’s automated teller machines (ATMs) due to the technical glitch.
“They were unable to do interbank transactions through internet banking and banking apps.”
Meanwhile, Payment System Department Director Muhommad Badiuzzaman Dider said, “There was no impact in clearing cheques, Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) and Bangladesh Electronic Funds Transfer Network due to the problem in our IT system.
The Business Post tried to reach out to central bank spokesperson (in charge) Sarwar Hossain for further comments on the issue, but he could not be reached till the filing of this report.
