Three Nigerian commercial banks have announced upcoming technology upgrades, which may temporarily disrupt their services. Guaranty Trust Bank and Access Bank have notified customers of planned upgrades that could last several hours or even days. Previously, Zenith Bank and Sterling Bank also upgraded their systems, leading to extended service downtime.
Commercial banks’ tech upgrades in the past few weeks have caused severe concerns to customers, sending panic into bank customers in rural areas. The situation is set to get worse as more banks announce that they will be upgrading their technology infrastructure in the coming weeks.
Zenith Bank apologises to customers According to reports, Sterling Bank customers tasted the bitter pill of frustration after the bank began migrating its systems from T24 to SEABaaS, a new, locally-developed core banking application, causing disruptions that lasted for days.
Zenith Bank stated on October 1, 2024, that it was undertaking routine maintenance on its IT infrastructure to improve service quality. Media sources disclosed that the tier-1 bank migrated its core banking platform from Phoenix to Oracle’s Flexcube, thereby shutting out many customers as the operations lasted several days. The bank later apologised for the inconvenience it caused its customers.
Nigpost reports that the Zenith Bank downtime affected Nigerians’ salary payments as it extended for days.
GTBank and Access send notices of downtime These disruptions have heightened tensions, with some customers protesting outside some bank branches due to the prolonged delays in accessing their funds. As Nigerians tried to overcome the disruptions, Access Bank and Guaranty Trust Bank announced planned IT upgrades, which might cause prolonged downtime.
