[ad_1]
By Chima Nwokoji | Lagos
The Nigerian banking public has expressed disappointment over their inability to perform normal transactions on electronic channels in real time due to what they describe as weak Information Technology infrastructure in banks that are unable to withstand increased customer transactions.
Checks by the Nigerian Tribune reveal that the usual USSD or mobile app transactions that used to take less than a second now takes between 30 minutes and four hours depending on how lucky the user is.
The banking public has become familiar with the message from banking transactions that says, “Sorry your request may not respond in time, please try again later” and “Temporarily unable to dispense cash.”
Regrettably, while some transactions are showing these messages, customers’ accounts in some instances are being debited.
Bankers therefore advise that “If you perform a transaction online or any e-channel and it failed, don’t retry immediately, wait several hours before you try again. There is probability/likelihood it was successful and you might be debited twice.”
Most bank customers have therefore taken to social media to vent their anger on banks.
According to a Mr Jude, who was at Ogba last week, said to pay for two Chinos trousers became a serious headache as all transfers failed while his card declined too.
“All banks need to upgrade their IT infrastructures to accommodate the sudden surge in online transactions,” he stated.
For Haruna Muazu, “It’s what they have been told to do years ago, all they know how to do is instantly debit you for services not rendered. Imagine getting debited for COT on a dormant account.”
On his twitter page, Mr Tunde Omotosho wrote, “This cashless policy in Nigeria is also having a toll on the bank apps. GTB bank app don load tire. To login nko? On two different occasions now, I have been debited twice for a single transaction.”
Another twitter user, Mr Kelvin Odanz noted that the first week of a semi cashless Nigeria and the banking systems are all collapsing.
“They can’t handle the increase in traffic for mobile transactions. Most banks are having service outage; can’t handle traffic.
“Cashless society no be by mouth. People don’t just go cashless when the systems in place can’t guarantee them smooth, safe, efficient financial services. Can’t put a horse before the cart
“People put their money in the bank and the money goes missing. Plenty of these cases around. How do people go cashless in a society where the banks aren’t that secure? They’d rather bury their money in their backyard.
“What measures did the CBN put in place to bring in small businesses and those in rural areas into the banking system and get them cashless?”
According to him, the woman selling banana in Bantaji village (where there is no bank at all) cannot accept transfer or have POS in her makeshift kiosk.
Also, Victor Asemota believes that Nigeria would have gone cashless organically if telcos had been allowed to lead and banks had not been protected unduly from the inevitable.
“We now have a weird model where merchant POS machines are now bank-led, human-powered ATMs dispensing more cash than they accept.”
The case is not different with failed transactions.
Other bank customers also complained that it takes three to five working days for some banks to reverse a failed POS transaction. Meanwhile, the regulator, CBN, said any bank that fails to reverse a failed transaction should pay the customer N10,000 for every day the failed transaction wasn’t reversed after 24 hours.
Kingsley said, “Dear (..bank), please reverse my money that was debited after a failed transaction. I can’t even remember the number of times I have tried to recharge and I was debited without getting the data and you don’t reverse it. @cenbank Pls do something about this.”
In reply, the banks’ customer service only sympathises with customers about the failed transactions, urging them to send their account number and details of the transaction via Direct Message (DM) for further assistance.
Also, one of the lenders responded, “Thank you for contacting (…bank). We sincerely apologise for the delayed response. Kindly send us a DM.
“Kindly confirm if you have a failed transaction that has not been reversed to enable us review and resolve. Thank you.”
From CBN, it was “Sorry for your transaction issues. Your failed transfer should have been reversed in 24 hours. Kindly visit your bank for prompt resolution of the failed transfer. Thank you.”
Meanwhile, experts are worried that most financial institutions have not been able to fully innovate because of their desire for control. According to them, this is largely what influences the incumbent’s response to disruption, which is a challenge.
They therefore suggest that financial institutions can develop a robust digital capability through a partnership with existing startups to leverage their technical know-how in the creation of real value for their customers.
Nigerian Tribune recalls that the World Bank had earlier described the level and quality of infrastructure in Nigeria as low.
But speaking under the auspices of the Association of Corporate Affairs Managers of Banks (ACAMB), the lenders revealed that Nigerian banks have invested an estimated total sum in excess of N100 billion in setting up and maintaining cutting-edge electronic channels over the past few years as part of ongoing commitment to seamless customer experience and real time digital financial transactions.
The bank managers added that “from internet banking to mobile apps, Automated Teller Machines (ATMs), Point of Sales (PoS) merchants, mobile wallets, Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) codes, agents and digital franchises, among others, not less than 80 percent of Nigerians now enjoy one form of digital or cashless transaction or another, powered by investments by Nigerian banks.”
These commitments by Deposit Money Banks (DMBs), the group said, have seen Nigeria rising steadily and recognised as having arguably Africa’s most advanced digital financial services industry and one of the world’s top 10 real-time payment markets.
[ad_2]
