No respite yet for Zenith, GTBank customers weeks after core banking migration 

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.”

Some bank customers, who spoke with Naijaonpoint 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.

“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.

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.

“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.

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.” 

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.

Earlier, a backend developer in one of the tier-1 banks had told Naijaonpoint 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.