Cybersecurity
A German Bank Accidentally Transferred $5.4 Billion to Four Other Banks
- Germany’s state-owned KfW repeats single payment several times
- Glitch was discovered early, money has been returned
Kreditanstalt fuer Wiederaufbau (KFW) in Frankfurt, Germany, on Aug. 21, 2013.
Photographer: Schöning/ullstein bild via Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
Germany’s state-owned development bank KfW, which gained publicity for erroneously transferring hundreds of millions of euros to Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. the day the U.S. firm filed for bankruptcy, has done it again.
KfW in February mistakenly transferred more than 5 billion euros ($5.4 billion) to four banks because of a technical glitch that repeated single payments multiple times, according to people familiar with the matter. The total amount transferred was as high as about 6 billion euros, said one of the people, who like the others asked not to be identified because the matter is private.