Ethiopia bank glitch saw almost $14m withdrawn, but Ethiopia CBE boss now says around $10m has been voluntarily returned and the bank is contacting police over the stolen money. Most of the customers who took the cash were university students.

Ethiopia bank glitch: CBE bank recovers $10m taken during technical glitch

Ethiopia’s largest bank has reported the recovery of nearly three-quarters of the $14 million (£12 million) it lost due to a technical issue that allowed customers to withdraw more funds than they had in their accounts.

Abe Sano, the head of the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE), stated on Tuesday that approximately $10 million has been successfully retrieved. Thousands of customers voluntarily returned the excess cash. Sano cautioned that individuals who have not returned the funds will face criminal charges.

The majority of the withdrawn funds were accessed by university students. On March 16, news of the technical issue rapidly spread across universities, primarily through messaging apps and phone calls, resulting in long queues at campus ATMs.

Although the bank has not provided specific details about the glitch, the CBE assured customers that it was not a result of a cyber-attack and reassured them that their personal accounts remained unaffected.

Several universities issued statements urging students to return any funds they had withdrawn erroneously from the bank.

Ethiopia CBE – ‘Customers are accountable for theft’

A total of 490,000 transactions were made before CBE realised there was a problem.

More than 38 million people hold accounts at the CBE, which was established 82 years ago.

Speaking to the BBC last week, Abe said the CBE was already in the process of reporting customers to the police.

“There is no way that they can escape because they are digital [transactions] and they are our customers. We know them. They are traceable and they are legally accountable for what they did,” he said.