Japan urges banks to fix glitch preventing cash transfers
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MUFG Bank, a unit of Mitsubishi UFJ, asked clients to consider using other banks if they have urgent money transfer needs.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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TOKYO – Japan’s government urged the operator of the domestic interbank fund transfer system to fix a problem that has disrupted millions of transactions for the past two days.
The trouble has hit 11 banks since Tuesday morning, prompting lenders including Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group to ask customers to use accounts at rival banks to move money. The system is operated by Zengin-Net, which is affiliated with the Japanese Bankers Association, the nation’s main bank lobby group.
“We would like to ask the Zengin-Net and financial institutions to take all necessary actions for customer care and the recovery of the system as soon as possible,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said at a news briefing on Wednesday.
The operator said attempts at software fixes failed on Tuesday, and it is planning to try again on Wednesday night. While the cause of the glitch is unclear, it emerged after the replacement of relay computers during the long weekend that lasted through Monday.
“We apologise for causing this huge trouble,” representative director Matsuo Tsuji of Zengin-Net, also known as the Japanese Banks’ Payment Clearing Network, told reporters.
MUFG Bank, a unit of Mitsubishi UFJ, asked clients to consider using other banks if they have urgent money transfer needs. Resona Bank told customers that fund transfers with other lenders could be delayed to the next day.
A bank association official said it is looking into the causes with NTT Data, the information technology vendor for the system. BLOOMBERG
