Finance ministry urges state-owned banks to strengthen cybersecurity after UCO Bank's digital glitch

Last week, Kolkata-based public sector lender UCO Bank reported erroneous credit of Rs 820 crore to account holders of the bank via Immediate Payment Service (IMPS).

During November 10-13, the bank had observed, due to technical issues in IMPS, certain transaction(s) initiated by holders of other banks have resulted in credit to the account holders in UCO Bank without actual receipt of money from these banks.

IMPS is a real-time interbank electronic funds transfer system without any intervention. The bank blocked the recipients' accounts and has been able to recover ₹649 crore out of ₹820 crore, which is about 79% of the amount.

The state-owned bank is yet to clarify whether this technical glitch was due to human error or a hacking attempt. However, the bank has reported the matter to the law enforcement agencies for necessary action.