Business owners and customers of Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank) are voicing their frustrations as the bank’s transition to a new core banking application system drags on longer than expected.
The bank’s ongoing system upgrade, which commenced on Friday and was initially scheduled for completion by Monday, has extended beyond the planned timeline, leaving businesses and individual customers struggling to access their funds.
Many business owners have reported that the disruptions have had a crippling effect on their operations, as they remain unable to process payments or access their accounts, whether through digital platforms or physical banking halls.
When GTBank first announced the migration on Thursday, it acknowledged that the process would temporarily disrupt banking services.
The bank assured customers they could still carry out limited transactions such as transfers, bill payments, and airtime purchases via its digital channels, while other services would be temporarily unavailable.
Despite these assurances, the transition was not completed as scheduled. By Monday afternoon, the bank issued another statement, notifying its customers that, “All banking channels, including our branches originally scheduled to reopen at 9:00 am, will now open at 12:00 noon today.”
Later in the evening, GTBank claimed the transition had been successfully completed and extended its branch hours until 6:00 pm. The bank expressed gratitude for customer patience, stating, “We thank you for your understanding during this transition; your continued trust means everything to us.”
However, despite these announcements, disruptions persisted until Tuesday, prompting customers to take their complaints to social media platforms. Many business owners and individuals expressed their frustration at the prolonged service outages, sharing clips of long queues and stranded customers outside several branches.
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One customer, Abdulkareem Baba Aminu, expressed his frustration on his social media platform X, saying, “This GTB-pocalypse is officially alarming! Gotta go there myself. Just got credited over 300k from a guy I don’t know! Absolutely sure it’s a glitch or system breakdown. Imagine what the ‘sender’ is feeling right now. Ridiculous. Shame on you, @gtbank. To think I *was* a big fan!”
Aminu further mentioned that he was unable to access his funds through the GTBank app to purchase medication, describing the experience as “Robust rubbish.”
Another user, Olaleke Folaranmi (DrGeeONE), recounted a distressing incident involving one of his patients. “I saw a patient this evening (Monday); she had been stranded since morning and couldn’t access healthcare because her GTBank account was inaccessible,” he posted.
The prolonged disruptions have raised concerns among business owners who depend on GTBank’s services for daily transactions, with many urging the bank to resolve the issues swiftly to prevent further financial and operational setbacks.
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