Even weeks after Zenith Bank and GTBank claimed to have finished their transition to new core banking infrastructure, which initially resulted in a complete service shutdown, customers have continued to receive subpar service.
Customers’ discontent appear to be growing daily as they find it difficult to complete transactions on their accounts, resulting in a barrage of unsuccessful transactions and dwindling account balances.
This runs counter to assertions made by the individual banks that the migration is complete and regular operations have resumed.
The two banks’ experiences are also raising concerns about other banks’ intentions to start the core banking shift.
For example, Access Bank is anticipated to make an announcement shortly regarding the start of its system overhaul.
The bank had previously planned to switch to a new core banking platform on October 12—the same day as GTBank. Later on, it called off the exercise and said that a new date would be set “in the next few weeks” for the system upgrade.
A Frustrating Encounter
Speaking with THE NEWS CHRONICLES, a few bank customers described the terrifying experience they had during the bank’s core banking transfer, which has now persisted for weeks.
Zenith Bank customer Ms Lynda Chukumai was unable to access her account throughout the upgrade, which the bank claimed was finished on October 3rd. After that, the app started to open, but she hasn’t been able to make any transactions.
“I have been unable to transact since I was allowed to log in to my app because my account balance is N0.00, even though I have more than N95,000 on it.”
“I am unable to transfer. I received money from someone, and while it appears in my transaction history, it hasn’t yet appeared on my balance.”It’s incredibly frustrating,” Lynda moaned.
Although GTBank’s core banking changeover is the most recent, the bank reported on October 14 that the process was successfully completed and that all of its financial channels were fully operational again.
However, as of Monday, October 21, the bank’s customers continue to voice their resentment, primarily on unsuccessful transfers.
Jephthah James claims that a transfer he made on the GTBank app on October 15 did not go through and that the funds have not been refunded.
“I no longer understand GTBank. The transaction I made is still pending as of this month’s 15th. Even the app’s transaction history is unavailable to me. To exacerbate the situation, they are not answering my complaints. My money is still hanging,” he lamented.
Several consumers of the two banks have also vented their annoyance on social media; a few of their grievances are listed below:
Still no explanation from the banks
The impacted banks have not yet released an official comment about the present status of their services, despite the numerous complaints from their clients.
Prior to the October 11 switch to the new core banking system, GTBank informed its clients of potential service interruptions; nevertheless, on October 16, it announced that all of its services had been fully restored.
On October 14, Zenith Bank released its most recent announcement regarding their transition to a new core banking application.
The Bank claimed that its customers could now conduct their transactions “quickly, safely, and conveniently 24/7 with our digital banking channels” following the IT infrastructure overhaul. However, many of its consumers have not yet experienced this.
Why Service Outages Endure
Prior to this, THE NEWS CHRONICLES in a chat with a backend engineer at one of the tier-1 banks understood that switching to a new core banking application is a laborious process that might take some time for any bank to stabilize.
“Migrating to a new core banking system is not a switch off/switch on thing, it may take two weeks to one month because it involves the movement of customer biodata.
“In some cases, a bank may not need to move customer transaction data. However, for every change, the banks will need to integrate with their various channels such as ATM, USSD, internet banking, and so on and this is why it takes time for them to stabilize,” he stated.
This explains why, despite the banks’ statement of completion, many of their clients are still seeing service interruptions. However, the lenders will need to improve their communication with their clients regarding the current situation.
