GTBank had on October 11, 2024 commenced transition to a new suite of Finacle Core Banking Application Systems and was expected to be completed by Monday, October 14, 2024.
The bank advised its customers of the accompanying temporary disruption in banking, the results of which the customers are yet to recover from as of the time of filling this report.
However, the Bank had to extend its initial timeline of service restoration, saying the transition was taking longer than anticipated.
During that period, customers of the Bank experienced the worst form of services typified by frustration in transaction, as customers could neither send nor receive cash and in worst cases, posting of false account balances, resulting in frustrations and extreme cases, loss of funds in transit.
Investigations by Metrobusinessnews.com (MBN) revealed that some of the customers are still nursing the pains and losses ocassioned by the transition exercise.
Although GTBank was not the only Nigerian bank that had transitioned to a new core banking system in recent time, its negative impact is still lingering with the customers.
Although the bank has admitted facing difficulties in its recent transition exercise, those who could not bear it had to open alternative accounts with other banks.
While apologizing to its customers, the bank in a statement released on Wednesday acknowledged the inconveniences experienced by customers and expressed gratitude for their patience and continued support during the challenging period.
It reaffirmed its commitment to improving the customer experience, stating that the system upgrade was necessary to enhance agility, adaptability, and service delivery.
“When we began the process of implementing the new Finacle Suite of Core Banking Application Systems, our goals were clear: to remain agile as we grow, adaptable, and most importantly, to improve your service experience. Yet, we must humbly acknowledge the challenges along the way.
“The process, though necessary, brought with it delays in transaction processing and interruptions to what should be seamless service and we sincerely apologize for this.
“We recognize how deeply this period of service disruptions affected your personal activities and business operations and we thank you for standing with us through it all, offering grace in times of frustration. Thank you for believing in us and allowing us the privilege of continuing to serve you. We are grateful beyond measure,” the bank said in the statement.
Some analysts and customers say, the traumatic experiences from the exercise would take some time to go away from their memories, urging the bank to go extra miles in compensating its customers through enhanced service and possibly avail customers of account statements within that period free of charge.
“It’s not just enough to send statement of apology to customers, but the bank should go further to allow customers print their account statement within that period free of charge. This will enable them to reconcile accounts that were distorted within that period,” says a customer.
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Another customer who acknowledged the hardship during the period in paying his staff said they can only be appeased through quality service taking to another level.
“By that I mean the bank should, under the new dispensation improve on its resolution of issues brought to it by aggrieved customers through their customers unit. That unit is always crowded and chaotic and to make matters worse, their online resolution platforms are not user-friendly.”
Customers of tier-2 Sterling Bank were the first to experience the disruptions that lasted for days earlier in September as the lender commenced the migration of its systems from T24 to SEABaaS, a new custom-built core banking application locally developed.
Similarly, customers of Zenith Bank had similar experiences from, as the bank later announced it was carrying out a ‘routine IT maintenance’.
Zenith migrated its system from Phoenix, a software developed by London-based Finastra, to Oracle’s Flexcube.
Industry sources have also hinted that other banks are planning to transition but may not give advanced notices.
This, according to the sources, is to avoid the pitfalls of the banks that have transited that caused some of them panic withdrawals and reputational damages
