Fortune's smile fleeting for Mrs Fortune

Fortune's smile proved too fleeting for Marian Fortune.

Mrs Fortune, who was accidentally credited $62 million by the Bank of New Zealand on Monday, has given the money back.

The food and beverages manager met BNZ regional manager Harry McLernon yesterday. He apologised for the inconvenience and thanked her for her honesty.

And he told her the $62 million was no longer in her account.

"Easy come, easy go, I suppose," said Mrs Fortune.

She was surprised on Monday to find she had $62,449,900.04 in her bank account. Not bad, she said, for someone who had just refinanced her home.

Mrs Fortune called the bank yesterday to arrange a meeting. She refused a token of the bank's appreciation, asking only that the person responsible for the mistake be left alone.

"I mean, it was a human error, something any of us could have done. It was a bit of a laugh for me, but it wasn't worth someone losing their job over."

BNZ public relations manager Carol Young said the Wellington-based processing centre employee who made the mistake would not face disciplinary action. Instead, the bank would review its processes to ensure the extremely rare mistake would not happen again.

Mr McLernon assured Mrs Fortune the episode would not affect her relationship with the bank.

Mrs Fortune said: "He was really lovely about the whole thing. But it might have been a different story if I'd spent it."

Ms Young said that the bank restricted withdrawals to stop profits being made from mistakes. If Mrs Fortune had tried to spend the money, she would have been visited by police.

"Spending any part of that money would have been a fraudulent act. Thankfully, Mrs Fortune was honest enough not to try."

- NZPA