After the UCO Bank incident, the Finance Minister gave advice to PSU banks, suggested further strengthen cyber security

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has asked all public sector banks in the country to review the systems and processes related to their digital operations. This statement of the Finance Minister is in view of the recent incident at UCO Bank.

UCO Bank had recently credited Rs 820 crore to the accounts of some of its account holders.

According to sources, banks have been advised to check the strength of their cyber security and take measures to strengthen it. Amidst the increasing digitalization in the financial sector, the Finance Ministry and RBI are making banks aware of this aspect at regular intervals.

Last week, Rs 820 crore was credited to the bank's account holders through IMPS from Kolkata-based UCO Bank due to a technical glitch. This incident took place during 10-13 November. However, UCO Bank immediately took appropriate action and started the process of refunding the money.

The bank blocked all the accounts from which the money had come and has so far recovered Rs 649 crore out of Rs 820 crore, which is about 79 percent of the total amount.

UCO Bank has not yet clarified whether the technical glitch was due to human error or a hacking attempt. However, the bank has reported the matter to law enforcement agencies for necessary action. IMPS is a real-time interbank electronic funds transfer system without any intervention.