More than $40 million was reportedly withdrawn from the state-owned Commercial Bank of Ethiopia or transferred to other banks, as customers discovered they could withdraw more than their total balance. Transactions were halted several hours later. The bank’s President Abie Sano told a press conference earlier this week that a large portion of the cash was withdrawn by students, with the BBC reporting that long lines formed at campus ATMs. Ethiopia’s central bank, which oversees its financial sector, said in a statement that the interruption was a result of system security checks and “not an incident that endangers the bank, its customers and the entire financial system.” Several universities have urged students to return cash that isn’t theirs, and Sano reportedly told reporters that anybody who returns the money will not be criminally prosecuted.
Ethiopia’s Largest Bank is Struggling to Recoup Millions of Dollars after a Glitch
