A glitch in an account-transfer computer system has resulted in 183,000 cases of accounts at UFJ Bank being debited twice for each withdrawal, the bank said Monday.

The erroneous transactions, which took place on Friday and last Wednesday, involved some 2.92 billion yen.

The transfer system, used for utility bills and other payments, will resume normal operations later in the day, UFJ Bank said.

The bank, which was created through the Jan. 15 merger of Sanwa Bank and Tokai Bank, attributed the error to the massive post-merger processing of customer data that resulted in human errors in data management.

The malfunction was reported last Thursday. It has also caused 5,000 cases in which withdrawals could not be made after Jan. 15 and 1.75 million cases of delayed withdrawals after last Monday.

The lender said it will promptly normalize transactions with some 1,500 companies having transfer accounts there. But the whole system is expected to resume normal operations by mid-February as a thorough examination is underway, it added.

The bank also said its online system, including automated teller machines, is working normally.

Kyodo News

-- Anonymous, January 28, 2002