Mr van Mr Dinelli has asked you questions about the error, and it has been variously described as a system error and a programming error. Just for the record, could you say in plain English what the error was?I believe it was a programming error where we intended for the flow of data between different systems in our credit assessment process to to to flow in in that designed way, and the programming – – – errors meant that the data did not flow the way it was intended to do and, therefore, the incorrect fields were used in the final credit decision. And what is meant precisely by a programming error?What that means is the the – way you have to bring together all the components of that credit decisioning system, there are multiple systems and linking pieces of infrastructure, and you have to write code somebody has to write code with suitable skills to make sure that the data – flows correctly from each component of those systems to the other. So ?And so the programming error was one where the the coding was incorrect – and caused that data to flow through incorrectly. Did you ever find out how many of code were incorrect?I didn’t. And the code is written by human being, rather than a machine?It’s written by a human being, yes. And it was corrected by being?Yes. When it was discovered?Yes. And do you accept the proposition that the fact that the error occurred showed that the bank didn’t care about the accuracy and reliability of its systems?Absolutely not. I think, you know, we we completely care about the accuracy and reliability of our – systems and put in significant effort to get that right. We don’t always, but it absolutely does not indicate that we do not care. How many transactions, speaking in perhaps billions or trillions, would the data management systems process in a month, say? THE COMMISSIONER: You need to confine the question a bit. Are we talking whole of bank, whole of group? What are we talking? MR SCERRI: Whole of the retail the retail business unit. – THE COMMISSIONER: Yes. Right?It’s a very, very large number. You know, we’ve got close to 10 million customers who have, on average, three products each, so typically a transaction account, a day-to-day bank account and credit cards and home loans and the like. Many, many billions of transactions every month. Many, many billions.
Mr van Mr Dinelli has asked you questions about the error, and it has been variously described as a system error and a programming error. Just for the record, could you say in plain English what the error was?I believe it was a programming error where we intended for the flow of data between different systems in our credit assessment process to – to – to flow in – in that designed way, and the programming errors meant that the data did not flow the way it was intended to do and, therefore, the incorrect fields were used in the final credit decision. And what is meant precisely by a programming error?What that means is the – the way you have to bring together all the components of that credit decisioning system, there are multiple systems and linking pieces of infrastructure, and you have to write code – somebody has to write code with suitable skills to make sure that the data flows correctly from each component of those systems to the other. So ?And so the programming error was one where the – the coding was incorrect and caused that data to flow through incorrectly. Did you ever find out how many of code were incorrect?I didn’t. And the code is written by human being, rather than a machine?It’s written by a human being, yes. And it was corrected by being?Yes. When it was discovered?Yes. And do you accept the proposition that the fact that the error occurred showed that the bank didn’t care about the accuracy and reliability of its systems?Absolutely not. I think, you know, we – we completely care about the accuracy and reliability of our systems and put in significant effort to get that right. We don’t always, but it absolutely does not indicate that we do not care. How many transactions, speaking in perhaps billions or trillions, would the data management systems process in a month, say? THE COMMISSIONER: You need to confine the question a bit. Are we talking whole of bank, whole of group? What are we talking? MR SCERRI: Whole of the retail – the retail business unit. THE COMMISSIONER: Yes. Right?It’s a very, very large number. You know, we’ve got close to 10 million customers who have, on average, three products each, so typically a transaction account, a day-to-day bank account and credit cards and home loans and the like. Many, many billions of transactions every month. Many, many billions.
transcript-20-march-2018.docx