Customers of Zenith Bank and GTBank have continued to experience poor services even weeks after the banks claimed they had completed their migration to new core banking platforms, which initially caused a total service shutdown.
From a deluge of failed transactions to disappearing account balances, the customers’ frustrations seem to be increasing by the day as customers struggle to carry out transactions on their accounts.
This is contrary to claims by the respective banks that the migration has been concluded and normal services restored.
The experience from the two banks is also creating apprehension over plans by other banks to embark on the core banking migration.
Access Bank, for instance, is expected to announce the commencement of its system upgrade any moment from now.
The bank had earlier scheduled its migration to a new core banking platform for October 12, which coincided with GTBank’s. It later postponed the exercise, adding that a new date for the system upgrade would be announced “in the next few weeks.”
Frustrating experience
Some bank customers, who spoke with Nairametrics shared the harrowing experience brought by the bank’s core banking switch, which has now lasted for weeks.
For Mr. Olayemi, a customer of Zenith Bank, while he was unable to access his account during the upgrade, which the bank said was completed on October 3rd, the app began to open thereafter but he still has not been able to carry out any transaction.
“Ever since I was able to log in to my app, I have not been able to transact because my account is showing N0.00, even though I have over N200,000 in the account.
“I can’t transfer. Someone sent me money, it’s showing on the transaction history but it’s still not reflecting on my balance. It is really frustrating,” he lamented.
- While GTBank’s core banking switch is the most recent, the bank announced a successful completion of the process on October 14, noting that all its banking channels have been restored for full services.
- However, as of Monday, October 21, customers of the bank are still complaining bitterly mostly about transfers not going through.
- According to Joy Obi, a transfer she initiated on the GTBank app on October 15 was unsuccessful and the money has not been reversed.
“I don’t understand GTBank anymore. Since on 15th of this month, the transaction I made is still hanging. I cannot even access my transaction history on the app. To make matters worse, they are not responding to my complaints. My money is still hanging,” she complained.
Some customers of the two banks have also taken to social media to express their frustration.
“I made four different transfers to different banks on the 16th of October and on the 19th, till now the recipient hasn’t received the money and I haven’t gotten a reversal. This is a terrible experience,” a GTBank customer identified as @broooksweb3, wrote on X.
Hello @gtbank_help I made four different transfer to different banks on the on the 16th of October and on the 19th ,till now the recipient didn’t receive the money and I did get a reversal this is real worse experience pls look into this !!!! pic.twitter.com/LQLmMbjs8q
— 𝔹𝕣𝕠𝕠𝕜𝕤𓂀 (@broooksweb3) October 21, 2024
Another GTBank customer, Oluyomi Tolulope, was demanding a refund of her money days after a failed transaction on the bank’s platform.
“I made a transfer of N300,000 from my GTBank account since on the 15th of October, 2024 but the beneficiary was not credited and I have since been debited. I have been to the bank but nothing is yet to be done about it. Please refund,” she stated in a post addressed to the Bank on X.
Please kindly refund my 300,000. I made a transfer of N300,000 from my GTBANK account 0037154791 since on the 15th of October, 2024 but the beneficiary was not credited and I have since been debited. I have been to the bank but nothing is yet to be done about it. Please refund
— oluyomi tolulope (@oluyomitolulope) October 21, 2024
Also expressing his frustration on X, a Zenith Bank customer identified as Innocent Obi, wrote:
“Dear Zenith Bank, how do you complete a system upgrade and a customer will be told that their money vanished without a trace and nothing can be done about it? I don’t understand this level of frustration.”
Dear @ZenithBank how do you complete a system upgrade and a customer will be told that their money vanished without a trace and nothing can be done about it?
I don’t understand this level of frsutration.
— Innocent Obi (@innobi17) October 18, 2024
No explanation from the banks yet
Despite the myriad of complaints from their customers, the affected banks are yet to make any official statement regarding the current state of their services.
- Although GTBank notified its customers of the possible disruptions in services ahead of the October 11 transition to the new core banking system, its last communication on the matter was on October 16 in which it declared that all its services were fully restored.
- Zenith Bank’s last statement on its migration to a new core banking application was issued on October 14.
- According to the Bank, after the IT infrastructure upgrade, its customers could now perform their transactions “quickly, safely, and conveniently 24/7 with our digital banking channels.” This has, however, not been the experience for many of its customers yet.
Why service disruptions persist
Earlier, a backend developer in one of the tier-1 banks had told Nairametrics that the process of migrating to a new core banking application is tedious and may take a while for any bank to stabilize after the migration.
“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 explained.
This explains why many of the banks’ customers are still experiencing service disruptions despite the announcement of completion by the banks. The lenders will, however, need to communicate better with their customers on the current experience.