Inter-bank transfer: Network glitches hit GTBank, First Bank, Access Bank

With most Nigerians getting used to different electronic channels of payments, glitches in the networks of some banks such as First Bank Plc, Guaranty Trust Bank and Access Bank have dampened enthusiasm over the cashless payment model that has otherwise made transactions easier.

Bank customers complained loudly at different branches of the banks on Friday as they had to wait several hours to execute one payment transaction or the other.

A customer in Aguda branch of the Access bank Plc, who preferred not to have his name in print, told THE RAINBOW how he waited for more than two hours in the bank to transfer money to an account in Zenith Bank and ended not effecting the transaction.

According to the customer, he decided to defy the penalty and the risk to withdraw N530,000, which he then physically deposited in the account he had originally planned to transfer funds to, in another to default in his agreement with the beneficiary of the fund.

The customer said he felt so frustrated because he had earlier gone to First Bank to execute the same transaction but resorted to Access Bank when he discovered that the bank's inter-bank network was down.

The man, who said that he regularly transfers money interbank, dismissed suggestions that he should have tried GTBank.

For him, there was no point since the he bank has been notoriously deficient in this regard. He said that he had discovered overtime that the bank could not execute instant fund transfer on their network. “Most of the time, they will tell you that it will take 24 hours,' he said.

Another customer at GTBank at Cele-Ijesha expressed dismay over the bank's inability to get inter-bank transfer transactions right for a long time, despite making its reputation as a technology savvy bank.

The bank customer who preferred not to be named said that he had earlier that day executed fund transfer to customer in a Fidelity Bank and five hours on the money was yet to hit the beneficiary account.

He said that his surprises was s that he had transferred fund to a company in Abuja from his GTBank account in May last year and the receiving account did not get it till the following day.

“I am really surprise that the bank (GTBank) has not been able to fix this aspect of their transactions one year on,” he said.

The bank customer expressed his growing frustration in the inability of these banks to get it right even in Lagos where the cashless policy has been on for about two years.

said that he had tried several other banks and he had found that so far the most reliant ones are Zenith Bank, Diamond Bank, Fidelity Bank, IBTC Chartered and a few others.

It will be recalled that THE RAINBOW reported last month how one Mr. Gbenga Fayemi, a car dealer made a fruitless journey to Contonou as the money transferred to him via GTBank to his First ABnk account could not hit his account as he had expected.

He had to come to Nigeria to wait for the fund to come through before travelling bank to contonou for the completion of his transactions.

Another car dealer at Sunrise, Apapa, had also told his tales of woes in the hand of GTBank. He said that most of the money transferred to him via the bank failed to meet the timing element which he said was very critical in their business.

According to him, he was forced to instruct his customers to use alternative banks in executing transfers to him.

Another bank customer, who gave his name as Samuel Iriah, spoke of Access Bank in very uncomplimentary terms. He advised the bank to do a thorough system overhaul to be in tune with the demands of the cashless policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

He wondered what had happened to the bank that had had reputation for seamless electronic transactions before its acquisition of the legacy Intercontinental Bank.

“The snake has swallowed what is bigger than it and can no longer move,” he surmised in a pejorative proverb, which he interpreted to mean that the bank might still be suffering from the hangover of its acquisition of a much larger Intercontinental Bank.

Our correspondent however gathered that First Bank's case might just be occasional system malfunction as a few other customers recounted more favourable experience about the bank's fund transfer services.

Although we were unable to reach First Bank's spokesperson, Folake Ani Mummuney, at the weekend, a senior official of the bank who spoke unanimously because he is not authorized to speak for the bank confirmed that the bank had had challenges transferring funds in the “past few days.”

When we spoke to the Head of Communications Department of GTBank last month, he ventured no answer to our inquiry but rather asked that we furnished her with the telephone numbers of those customers that complained about the glitches.

Our calls to Segun Fafore of Corporate Affairs department of Access Bank could not go through before press time.

The cashless policy of CBN has made it imperative for banking customers to embrace inter-bank transfers as one of the major payment channels as the policy has sanctions for cash withdrawals above N150,000 per day.

-THE RAINBOW