No relief yet for Nigerian bank customers weeks after migration of core banking services

Customers of Zenith Bank and GTBank continued to experience poor services, even weeks after the banks claimed to have completed their migration to new core banking platforms, which initially prompted a complete shutdown of services.

From a deluge of failed transactions to disappearing account balances, customer frustrations seem to be growing by the day as customers struggle to transact on their accounts.

This is contrary to the respective banks’ claims that the migration has been concluded and normal services restored.

The experience of the two banks also raises apprehensions about other banks’ plans to embark on the migration of core banking services.

Access Bank, for example, is expected to announce the start of its system upgrade at any time.

The bank had previously scheduled its migration to a new core banking platform for October 12, which coincided with GTBank’s migration. He then postponed the exercise, adding that a new date for the system upgrade would be announced “in the coming weeks.”

Frustrating experience

Some customers of the bank, who spoke with Nairametrics, shared the heartbreaking experience brought by the change in the bank’s core banking system, which has now been going on for weeks.

For Zenith Bank customer Mr. Olayemi, while he was unable to access his account during the update, which the bank said was completed on October 3, the app started to opened afterwards but it still couldn’t perform an update. transaction.

“Since I was able to log into 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 shows in the transaction history but it still doesn’t reflect on my balance. It’s really frustrating. » he lamented.

Although GTBank’s core banking system change is the most recent, the bank announced the successful completion of the process on October 14, noting that all its banking channels have been restored to offer full services.

However, since Monday October 21, the bank’s customers are still complaining bitterly, mainly because the transfers are not going through.

According to Joy Obi, a transfer she initiated on the GTBank app on October 15 did not go through and the money was not reversed.

“I don’t understand GTBank anymore. As of the 15th of this month, the transaction I made is still pending. I can’t even access my transaction history on the app. Worse yet, they don’t respond to my complaints. My money is still on hold. she complained.

Some customers of both banks also expressed their frustration on social media.

“I made four different transfers to different banks on October 16 and 19, so far the recipient has not received the money and I have not gotten a cancellation. It’s a terrible experience,” a GTBank customer identified as @broooksweb3, wrote on

Good morning @gtbank_help I made four different transfers to different banks on October 16th and 19th, so far the recipient hasn’t received the money and I got a reversal, it’s a really worse experience, please review that !!!! pic.twitter.com/LQLmMbjs8q

— 𝔹𝕣𝕠𝕠𝕜𝕤𓂀 (@broooksweb3) October 21, 2024

Another GTBank customer, Oluyomi Tolulope, demanded her money back days after a transaction on the banking platform failed.

“I made a transfer of N300,000 from my GTBank account since October 15, 2024 but the beneficiary was not credited and I have since been debited. I went to the bank but nothing has been done yet. Please refund,” she declared in a message addressed to the Bank on X.

Please refund my 300,000. I made a transfer of N300,000 from my GTBANK account 0037154791 since October 15, 2024 but the beneficiary was not credited and I have since been debited. I went to the bank but nothing has been done yet. Please refund

– Oluyomi Tolulope (@oluyomitolulope) October 21, 2024

Also expressing his frustration with X, a Zenith Bank customer identified as Innocent Obi, wrote:

“Dear Zenith Bank, how do you do a system upgrade and a customer will be informed that their money has disappeared without a trace and nothing can be done? I don’t understand this level of frustration.

Dear @ZenithBank How do you perform a system upgrade and tell a customer that their money has disappeared without a trace and nothing can be done?

I don’t understand this level of frustration.

-Innocent Obi (@innobi17) October 18, 2024

No explanation from the banks yet

Despite countless complaints from their customers, the banks concerned have not yet made an official statement on the current state of their services.

Although GTBank informed its customers of possible service disruptions 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 stated that all its services were fully restored.

Zenith Bank’s latest statement regarding its migration to a new core banking application was published on October 14.

According to the bank, after upgrading the IT infrastructure, its customers can now transact “quickly, securely and conveniently 24/7 through our digital banking channels”. However, this has not yet been the case for many of its customers.

Why service outages persist

Earlier, a back-end developer of one of the Tier 1 banks told Nairametrics that the process of migrating to a new core banking application was tedious and could take any bank some time to stabilize after migration.

“Migrating to a new core banking system is not a matter of shutdown/on, it can take anywhere from two weeks to a month as it involves the movement of customer biodata.

“In some cases, a bank may not need to move customer transaction data. However, with every change, banks will have to integrate with their various channels such as ATM, USSD, Internet banking, etc. and that is why it takes time for them to stabilize. he explained.

This explains why many bank customers are still experiencing service interruptions despite banks announcing the completion of the work. However, lenders will need to better communicate with their customers about the current experience.