Bank Payment Network Repeats Apology for October’s Glitch

Jiji Press

16:46 JST, December 2, 2023

TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Japanese Banks’ Payment Clearing Network, or Zengin-Net, reiterated its apologies at a press conference Friday for a major system glitch that disrupted interbank transfers in October.

The press conference was held after Zengin-Net, which operates Japan’s Zengin interbank financial settlement system, and NTT Data Japan Corp., the system’s developer, submitted reports on the problem to the Financial Services Agency on Thursday.

Zengin-Net head Matsuo Tsuji apologized for “causing great inconvenience and anxiety.” Matsuo admitted that insufficiencies in the system’s crisis management structure were behind the glitch, and vowed efforts to prevent similar problems from occurring again by beefing up training for system-related personnel.

NTT Data President Yutaka Sasaki also attended the press conference and said the company was “directly responsible” for the glitch. Sasaki added that the company’s communication with Zengin-Net about response priorities in the event of a glitch was inadequate.