Customers express frustration as banks’ IT glitches linger

• ‘Development widening trust deficit’

• Upgrades have messed up small businesses – NASME

There appears to be no respite yet for the Nigerian banking public following the upgrades being carried out by some deposit money banks (DMBs) in recent times, Daily Trust reports.

Despite recent assurances by the institutions, Nigerians have continued to express frustration over the lingering glitches in the banks’ operations with the many customers unable to either access account balances or confirm transfers.

Daily Trust reports that many banks recently conducted upgrades to their core banking applications with a view to being at par with the evolving financial system.

Core banking migrations refer to the process where a bank upgrades or replaces its banking system comprising the central software that manages its most critical operations like account management, transactions, loans, and payments.

According to experts, the system is the backbone of a bank’s services, and upgrading it increases security, efficiency, and an institution’s ability to handle new technologies.

Major DMBs had carried out the migration, causing bank customers’ untold hardship as they could not access their accounts.

Experts and some customers said the banks ought to have deployed strategies such as “piecemeal migration”, or “overnight overhaul”, to reduce the hardship being experienced by their customers.

‘How the stress evolved’

Sterling Bank started the migration on September 10, transiting to a new core banking system called SeaBaaS.

Following the migration, many of its customers faced difficulty transacting for weeks, leaving many people stranded.

A customer of the bank, who gave her name as Halima Musa, described the stress she passed through as “traumatic”.

“It was a trying moment for me because I rarely hold cash…All my transactions are online, including making payments and settling bills. I also buy GSM recharge cards through the banking app.

“However, when they started the so-called upgrade, we were rendered helpless. We could not do anything. But when respite came after completion of the upgrade, I saw a deposit of N100,000, purportedly from a business partner.

“But there was a turn of events after I withdrew the money and spent it. The next time I went to the ATM in order to withdraw after a customer sent some money to me, the account showed that I had no money. And when I went to one of the branches, they told me that I was credited twice at a time and I have to repay what I withdrew,” she said.

After Sterling, Zenith Bank followed suit while Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank) also carried out its upgrade which lasted for a week.

GTBank has fully transitioned to a new Finacle Core Banking Application System suite. The bank later announced the completion of the transition in a message to customers while apologising over the disruptions caused by the migration.

The bank initially informed customers that digital services would be unavailable from 10p.m. on Friday, October 13, to 9 a.m. on Saturday, October 14.

The bank, in an update to customers described the new application suite as robust and thanked the customers for their understanding.

“We thank you for your understanding during this transition; your continued trust means everything to us”, the statement added.

However, many Nigerians continued to express frustration over the glitches,  which they said have widened the trust deficit within the banking populace.

“This is not a GTBank matter, all the banks are experiencing one glitch or the other,” said a customer, Oyindamola Ogunleye, who uses another bank.

She decried that her transfer transaction of N11,750 has been trapped for two weeks while trying to purchase MTN Mifi online.

“I was trying to purchase an MTN Mifi from MTN website and some minutes later I got a message from MTN that the transaction was not successful and when I checked my mobile app, I saw that I had been debited. So,  I called them (my bankers) immediately and they said they are going to work on it.

“For two weeks, I have been calling them and up till now I have not gotten it (the refund) and I went as far as going to their banking hall,” she said.

Another bank customer lamented that for the past two weeks he has not been able to ascertain the actual amount he has in his account.

“For me, what marvels me is that my bank is not carrying out any upgrade that I am aware of but the services have been very epileptic. I received one credit alert and wondered where it came from only to discover that I was credited in error.

“So, these are the issues we have been facing. I wanted to book a flight and tried to move money from my Savings account to Current. Surprisingly, I couldn’t do it. I had to call a friend to send money to another account for me to be able to complete the transaction,” the customer narrated.

A customer in Abuja who simply identified himself as Aliyu, said he had seen a credit post of N1,000,000, but could not ascertain the source.

“I don’t know who sent the money…I am really at a loss. I don’t want to spend it. I will go to the bank tomorrow in order to know who sent it,” he said.

Segun Oyebanjo, whose N100,000 was trapped while using his account to do a transfer, said that he has been waiting for a reversal since then to no avail.

“Please, my N100,000 is still trapped. I have no idea where the money is, and the bank has not refunded me,” he said.

Hussaini Abdullahi, who works with a private company in Bauchi, said he was yet to receive his salary, which had been paid by his employers since on October 26.

“It is very frustrating; I am unable to access my account through the app of the bank. I used my ATM and it is also not responding. I went to the bank and they told me to be patient.

“It is only in Nigeria that you see this kind of needless trouble. I am appealing to SERVICOM and Consumer Protection Council to come to our aid,” he said.

Our correspondents made attempts to speak to officials of some of the affected banks to no avail.

While some of them said they had issued official statements, others kept mute.

‘Banks’ application upgrade has messed up already bad economy’

An economic analyst and Chairman of the National Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (NASME), Professor Adebayo Adams said the upgrade has messed up the already bad economy.

He described the experiences with banks’ IT glitches as more harrowing for small businesses.

“The banks’ upgrade has messed up the already bad economy, coupled with high inflation and with this upgrade, they have caused more hardship for small business owners in Nigeria and people are seriously in pain.

“This is not the time for the upgrade. It is not only one bank but those banks with a lot of customers are more affected, though the business of POS (point of sale) and others are thriving.

“Now, the patronage of other financial technology banks like OPay, Palmpay, and others have increased because everybody wants transactions completed and they can see the money.

“So, where you cannot get your money from the major banks is a big problem. The government is not doing very well in that aspect and coupled with inflation and all that is happening, we have the prices of goods skyrocketing”, he said.

‘Upgrade should have been done in phases’

Professor Adams narrated that he needed his bank statement to carry out a transaction but he could not access it.

He added: “Some of us have not been able to access our statements. Last two weeks I needed my bank statement to do certain things. This is not the right time but apart from the fact that they should have done it in phases, look at the portal, it is no longer friendly and they will send you money you will not see the alert. You will go to the bank, it will tell you the money has not come for one to two weeks.

“So, we are going through hell. The government should look into this and try to compensate people.

“Banking institutions should look at it. When they are telling us everybody should use a bank, look at it now; we have our money in the banks but we don’t have access to same. It has become a serious matter.

“Government should try to help us before it becomes a total mess. We need the federal government’s intervention, especially the Central Bank, to warn all the banks so that in future they do not upgrade at the same time and put everybody in difficulties”, he said.

Speaking with Daily Trust recently, Ayokunle Olumide, a financial analyst, described the ongoing upgrade by banks as a “necessary evil”. He stated that while the upgrade process is inevitable, some of the banks have not managed the development well.

“When banks are moving to another software, there is always a challenge for them. A lot of banks have been trying to either change their banking application or upgrade and it comes with hitches.

“What we have seen is that some banks have not managed the process well, particularly, they did not manage the customers’ engagement well. So, some customers have moved to another bank, some are going to Fintechs, and if some banks are not managing it well, it might be difficult for most of them,” he said.

He stated that banks that are moving to entirely new softwares could experience longer recovery period.

Going forward, he said, banks should deepen engagements with customers and ensure they are allowed to use other channels.

“Also, giving the customers well enough notice would help,” he said.