Ethiopia's biggest commercial bank is trying to control the damage after a system glitch allowed its users to withdraw millions.

According to reports, customers of Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) discovered the glitch on Saturday, and by the time the glitch was noticed, they had transferred more than $40m (£31m) to other banks.

PHOTO | COURTESY a person counting money

On Monday, the President of the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia, Abe Sano, told the media that Students withdrew much of the money from the state-owned CBE.

The problem became widely known across colleges, mainly through messaging applications and phone conversations.

PHOTO | COURTESY An ATM

Long lineups formed at school ATMs, with a student in western Ethiopia telling BBC Amharic that individuals were withdrawing money until police officials arrived on campus to stop them.

On Sunday, Ethiopia's central bank, which governs the financial sector, stated that "a glitch" happened during "maintenance and inspection activities."

However, the statement emphasized the service interruption after CBE suspended all transactions. It did not specify how much money clients had withdrawn.

PHOTO | COURTESY  President of the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia, Abe Sano


Mr Sano did not specify how much money was removed during Saturday's event but claimed the loss was minimal compared to the bank's overall holdings.

He added that a cyber-attack had not targeted CBE and that consumers need not be concerned because their accounts were intact. The student, who attends Jimma University Institute of Technology, claimed he "did not believe it was true" when his pals told him at about 01:00 local time (22:00 GMT) that big amounts could be withdrawn from ATMs or transferred using the bank's app.