Standard Chartered transferred double payments into some customer salary accounts in error on Tuesday.
The bank apologised and fixed the error, but did not disclose the number of customers or amount of money involved, Apple Daily reports.
A spokesperson from Standard Chartered said the bank is investigating the cause of the accident, and a system error might be to blame. However, there was no mention of the duration of the error, whether customers withdrew the excess or who they were.
Honorary chairman of the Hong Kong Small and Medium Enterprises Association Danny Lau said if the bank accounts of employers had insufficient funds due to erroneous payments, employees might not be able to get their salaries from bounced cheques.
He also said the blunder might have an impact if a company had insufficient funds to make other payments. He added that Standard Chartered should review and enhance their system as soon as possible.
Standard Chartered immediately notified the Hong Kong Monetary Authority after the error.
It’s not the first time errors have struck the bank. In January 2012, Standard Chartered repeatedly transferred salary payments to the accounts of the same group of employees.
