Lotus Bank has dragged 45 banks before a Lagos Federal High Court over an alleged N1.1bn loss caused by a system glitch exploited by customers.
In its motion before Justice Daniel Osiagor, the bank claimed that 718 customers exploited a “system glitch” that occurred on July 20, 2024, to withdraw funds beyond their actual account balances.
The glitch, which stemmed from a rollback fix on the bank’s E-Bills Pay platform, disabled the automatic debit process that should have deducted funds during transactions.
The lender stated that the failure led to massive unauthorized transfers and withdrawals, as customers knowingly took advantage of the technical fault to move funds to various accounts across other banks.
To recover the lost amount, the financial institution dragged 45 banks before the court, arguing that they received and still hold part of the funds.
Citing the Central Bank of Nigeria,CBN, Guidelines Nos. BPS/FIRGEN/CIR/02/004 of 2015 and BPS/FIRGEN/CIR/05/011 of 2018, Lotus Bank asked the court to determine whether the defendant banks were not obligated to place liens on the sums in their customers’ accounts pending recovery.
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The plaintiff also urged the court to order the immediate refund of all illegally transferred funds still available in the defendants’ customers’ accounts.
The suit, filed under the Federal High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules 2019, seeks several declarations, including that the 45 banks are duty-bound to protect the integrity of Nigeria’s payment system by restricting accounts involved in fraudulent transfers.
Lotus Bank is demanding a refund of N1,133,808,604.31 either in full or in any part recoverable from the receiving accounts.
A 19-paragraph affidavit deposed to by the bank’s Fraud Investigation Officer, Gbenga Ojerinde, stated that the glitch was reported to the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc,NIBSS, which oversees interbank settlements.
He maintained that the beneficiaries of the “erroneously retained credits” must not be allowed to enjoy unjust enrichment at the expense of the bank.
Some of the listed banks have responded to the suit, while Justice Osiagor adjourned the matter to December 2025 for further hearing.
News Express
