Thukten Zangpo 

The Royal Monetary Authority (RMA) has imposed Nu 6.2 million (M) on Bank of Bhutan (BoB) for the system failure for about three days earlier this month.

An official from the bank said that the bank is still negotiating the penalty amount with the authority.

The bank’s both offline and online banking services could not be accessed because of the system failure.

Many frustrated users poured their complaints on social media after they were unable to withdraw money from the ATMs, or transfer money through the bank’s most used application mBoB.

Unlike in the past, many people after the pandemic do not carry cash in hand now and rely on online banking services. The system failure reportedly ceased all business activities.

It was learned that the bank’s system failed because one of the bank’s servers was burnt out because of power fluctuation.

The bank on its official Facebook page on September 6 notified its clients that due to technical problems the bank was unable to provide service to customers at the branches. “We are working towards restoring the service as soon as possible and will notify you once we are ready for service.”

It added that the bank was trying its best to restore mBoB and other delivery channels at the earliest.

The bank also shared it on its official Facebook page apologising for the inconvenience.

While the system is in place, the mini statement and statement generation through MBoB is still down.

As of yesterday, the bank has more than 400,000 clients.

According to the RMA’s payment system report 2021, the total volume of domestic digital payment transactions in 2021 grew by 111 percent from 76.79M in 2020 to 161.73M with equivalent growth in the value by 60 percent from Nu 447.84 billion (B) to Nu 717.88B.