Glitch suspends inter-bank cheque clearing
The Bangladesh Bank’s Bangladesh Automated Cheque Processing Systems, an inter-bank cheque clearing system, has remained dysfunctional since Tuesday due to disruption in connectivity.
As a result, customers of banks could not receive money from other banks through cheques in the past two days.
Due to the failure of the system, clearing of cheques of many customers would be delayed by at least five days even if the BB manages to fix the technical glitches by Saturday.
Initially, a cut in the optical fibre cable of the Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited that connects the BB’s systems was the main reason for the glitches, Bangladesh Bank executive director for ICT infrastructure maintenance and management department Muhammad Zakir Hasan told New Age on Thursday.
The BTCL’s connectivity has already been restored but the problems which occurred subsequently after the fibre cut is yet to be restored, said Zakir, adding that BB officials are working round the clock to resolve the issue.
The BB executive director, however, said that other inter-bank payment systems of Bangladesh Bank, including Bangladesh Electronic Funds Transfer Network (BEFTN) and Bangladesh Real Time Gross Settlement (BD-RTGS), were functioning properly.
These two systems allow a customer to send money electronically from his or her account to any other account in any other bank.
As an alternative to the BACPS, the central bank has allowed inter-bank transactions of any amount through RTGS that usually does not permit transactions less than Tk 1 lakh, said Zakir.
Zakir could not specify how long it may take to restore the system.
He, however, said that the weekend ly holidays Friday and Saturday would give the IT officials adequate scope to resolve the issue.
Following the fibre cut, the official website of the BB was out of service for more than one day starting in the second half of Tuesday.
News Courtesy:
https://www.newagebd.net/article/135413/glitch-suspends-inter-bank-cheque-clearing
