Digital services of 30 banks restored after Q-Cash disruption

Digital banking services of around 30 banks were restored on Tuesday night after being disrupted since 4 October due to a sudden system migration by Q-Cash, with the payment network operator blaming a server fault for the emergency move.
Card, automated teller machine (ATM), point-of-sale (POS), internet banking and internet banking fund transfer (IBFT) services under the National Payment Switch Bangladesh (NPSB) resumed on the night of 6 October, although the broader migration work is scheduled to continue until noon on 10 October.
Several banks subsequently informed customers through Facebook posts, text messages and websites that the affected services had returned to normal.
Bangladesh Bank (BB) summoned Information Technology Consultants PLC (ITCL), the operator of Q-Cash, on Tuesday and directed it to restore the card-related services promptly.
Arief Hossain Khan, executive director and spokesperson of BB, told the Daily Sun that the services were restored on Tuesday night and the immediate problem had been resolved.
“We called in Q-Cash’s management, and they told us it was an accident. Their server migration had been scheduled for 28 October, but because of a fault in the server, they had to begin the migration immediately. If they hadn’t, a major disaster could have occurred. Even so, we have asked them for a written explanation,” he said.
However, a senior BB official, speaking on condition of anonymity, alleged that the disruption was linked to unpaid dues to Compass Plus, the original equipment manufacturer of the system, as well as poorly planned system activities.
Asked whether the incident was linked to a dispute with a foreign company, Arief Hossain Khan said, “We have no knowledge of this.”
Senior officials of several affected banks said Q-Cash had not given them adequate notice to inform customers in advance. In some cases, customers received text messages only a few hours before or after the disruption began.
ITCL alleges malicious script
ITCL, meanwhile, said that the disruption stemmed from a dispute with Russian technology company Compass Plus over the migration of its payment-processing platform.
The company reportedly decided in August to phase out the Compass Plus platform through a 12-to-18-month transition and replace it 
with WAY4, an enterprise payment platform developed by Brussels-based OpenWay.
ITCL alleged that after learning about the planned replacement, Compass Plus placed a malicious script on its servers.
According to ITCL, the script automatically restarted the servers every eight hours, causing routing tables to be erased and disrupting data-processing capabilities across the network.
An ITCL executive said that the company alerted its partner banks, including bKash, immediately after identifying the problem.
“Once we identified the problem, we alerted all our partner banks, including bKash. Following the intervention of Bangladesh Bank, services were restored by around 10pm on Tuesday,” the executive said.

The dispute reportedly escalated after ITCL announced its decision to gradually replace the Compass Plus platform. Compass Plus allegedly threatened to stop technical support and demanded an immediate migration fee of $1.5 million, along with an advance payment guarantee backed by Bangladesh Bank.
BB unhappy over lack of notice
Bangladesh Bank intervened on Monday to resolve the standoff between ITCL and the technology vendor.
The central bank, however, expressed dissatisfaction with the sudden shutdown of services without adequate prior notice.
“This is clearly a technical problem, but the failure to deal with it immediately has caused severe suffering for cardholders,” Arief Hossain Khan said.
He also said that the central bank would formally issue show-cause notices over the sudden disruption.
Under BB guidelines, institutions are required to inform customers sufficiently in advance through national newspapers, television and direct text messages before carrying out scheduled maintenance that may affect payment services.
The Payment Systems Department of Bangladesh Bank said ITCL’s system migration had initially been scheduled for late October.
ITCL’s website notice said that the maintenance window had been set from 9pm on 4 October to noon on 10 October.
70% of card transactions routed through ITCL
ITCL provides payment-processing and gateway infrastructure to 33 commercial banks and operates key components of the country’s digital payment infrastructure, including NPSB, ATMs, POS terminals, cash recycling machines (CRMs) and internet banking fund transfers.
Industry stakeholders estimate that around 70% of Bangladesh’s banking-card transactions are processed through ITCL.
The sudden disruption left millions of customers unable to use cards, ATMs and other digital payment services at shops, restaurants and ATM booths. Some customers also reported being unable to conduct routine transactions or check account balances through mobile banking applications.
The incident has frustrated member banks, which said the lack of adequate advance notice had caused serious inconvenience to customers and damaged their reputations.
Although the affected services have now been restored, the episode has raised concerns over the resilience of Bangladesh’s digital payment infrastructure and the risks associated with dependence on critical technology vendors.