Since Monday this week, bank halls were filled with complaints by customers who were unable to conduct digital transactions.
Banking premises around Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and several cities nationwide, seem to be having this issue.
Many of the customers queued to file complaints about malfunctioning apps, failed transactions, wrong debits and even outright failure to log into several banks’ internet banking platforms due to poor networks.
The network crisis in the sector which spread across the Tier-1 banks, was also witnessed in many Tier-2 banks, otherwise known as smaller banks.
Inquiries showed that the nationwide network failure also extended to failure to fully use Point of Sale (PoS) machines, Automated Teller Machines (ATMs), to almost all e-channels.
Website of one of the five Tier-1 banks completely shut down yesterday, leaving its customers in disarray.
As the situation escalated, many customers avoided e-payment channels, relying solely on cash to pay business associates and customers.
Many of the banks contacted were not forthcoming with answers to the several questions from their numerous customers.
One Tier-2 bank which switched from foreign to local app, it was gathered, was trying to cut costs associated with forex and naira depreciation. The bank informed staff that the foreign app was too costly for its survival and sustainability.
One staff in a Tier-1 bank, who spoke anonymously, said the bank’s management already held an emergency meeting on the development and agreed on investing more on technology.
“We understand that the fallout of the meeting was that a good part of the bank’s profit will go into infrastructure for the bank, top of which is technology. I do not have the details of what that means, but it will boil down to acquiring new software and apps that support digital banking,” the source said.
