The story is worthy of a film, perhaps of an Italian comedy. But the facts are terribly serious. There Spanish bank Santander, which in recent days had formalized the return to the role of partner of Ferrari in F1 with a new sponsorship agreement, has in fact wrongly credited £ 130 million (over 150 million euros) to tens of thousands of customers. The money was deposited into the checking accounts of the unsuspecting beneficiaries on Christmas day. Unfortunately for those directly concerned, however, it is not a good gift. Around 75,000 payment transactions, averaging £ 1,733 each, have been erroneously sent to various individuals and businesses who normally need to receive certain regular payments. Part of these millions comes directly from Santander’s reserves.
The Spanish-owned bank explained that the error was due to a “Programming problem” payments and is now struggling to get his money back, according to the Times. However, the undertaking is – understandably – easier said than done. According to the law, whoever received this money in error cannot keep it and must return it. Those who spend it could be accused of “illegally withholding credit” and face up to 10 years in prison. The recovery operations however, they promise to be anything but quick and painless. Matt Boyle, banking editor at the financial analysis site finder.com, told al DailyMail that the bank will have to contact each customer directly to request the return of funds. He also added that Santander is authorized to report to the police anyone who has accidentally received credit and refuses to return it.
This is not the first IT failure that has involved the Iberian group. In May Santander had been forced to apologize after a technical glitch meant that some of its customers were unable to make any payments for nearly an entire Saturday. Also, as of August last year, thousands of customers were unable to access their online accounts.
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