Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank) has announced delays in its ongoing core banking system upgrade, frustrating many of its 32.8 million retail customers. The bank, which had planned to close its 235 branches until 9 am on Monday for the transition, extended the closure until midday, citing unforeseen delays.
In an Instagram post, GTBank said, “Following our recent notification on the transition to a new and robust suite of Finacle banking Application System, we would like to update you that this transition has taken longer than planned.” This announcement confirmed earlier reports that GTBank was moving to the Finacle platform, joining at least ten other Nigerian commercial banks using the same system.
The bank’s decision to adopt Finacle has been in the works for some time. GTBank’s Group CEO, Segun Agbaje, confirmed that the full transition to the new system is expected by July 2024. Sources revealed that the bank’s leadership had visited Infosys, the developers of Finacle, in India and had chosen to work directly with them instead of third-party vendors.
Despite warnings about potential disruptions over the weekend, the extended service downtime frustrated many customers, especially as GTBank holds over N3.85 trillion in retail deposits. However, this isn’t an isolated incident. Many top Nigerian banks have faced similar challenges this year. For example, Sterling Bank’s shift to SeaBaaS earlier this year left customers struggling for three weeks. Recently, Access Bank also informed its customers about an upgrade to its Flexcube system, while Zenith Bank completed a similar move to Flexcube in September.
As Nigerian banks continue to modernize their technology infrastructure, service disruptions are becoming an unfortunate part of the process. Customers eagerly await GTBank to complete its transition and restore seamless banking services.
