Bank’s Computer System Plays Hooky, Snarls Data

Security Pacific National Bank’s computer system took much of Wednesday off, snarling efforts to post deposits and withdrawals made during the long holiday weekend and temporarily paralyzing the bank’s direct deposit system for thousands of employees’ paychecks.

A bank official said the system was restored and accounts were correctly updated as of mid-afternoon Wednesday and that, to his knowledge, no checks bounced as a result of the foul-up.

According to Richard K. Davis, senior vice president in charge of operations, support and customer service, here is what happened:

At 2 a.m. Wednesday, the bank’s computer system in Brea began to update accounts to reflect transactions made from the close of business Friday through 4 p.m. Tuesday.

However, a technical problem arose at 6 a.m., causing the system to cease posting deposits and withdrawals. At that point, the computer ignored any transactions that occurred after 7 p.m. Friday.

Davis said such technical problems happen infrequently and often go unnoticed. The snafu this time was complicated by the holiday weekend and the fact that Wednesday was payday for many people.

“The good news is that all historical data was still accessible,” he said. “It wasn’t like we had blank screens and knew nothing.”

The bank’s 550 offices and 870 automated teller machines, used by slightly more than 2.5 million customers, routinely post paper and electronic transactions of about $2.5 million each night, Davis said. However, because of the long holiday weekend, about $4 million in transactions were to be posted starting Wednesday morning, Davis said.