FirstBank guarantees uninterrupted services

October 25, 2024

System migration won’t affect banking services

Yesterday, FirstBank notified its vendors of an impending transition to a new cloud-based procurement and financial platform, scheduled to begin on Saturday, October 26, 2024.

The bank informed and urged vendors and suppliers to prepare ahead of potential delays by submitting all invoices and receiving payments by Friday, October 25.

Stating that the transition will affect the bank’s current Electronic Business Suite (EBS), which will no longer be operational as of November 4.

However, the bank clarified in a statement on Thursday saying, “This transition relates to the bank’s platform with suppliers only. It does not affect its banking systems, customer transactions, channels, etc.”

While the lender, which serves over 42 million customers, previously acknowledged that the migration may result in temporary service disruptions. they also stated that these disruptions will specifically impact vendors, not customers.

While the bank acknowledged that “certain activities and transactions will need to be suspended” to facilitate a smooth migration. She reassured stakeholders that measures are in place to ensure minimal disruptions. And that payments will be processed for invoices submitted before the cut-off date, October 25, 2024.

Although this transition will mark a significant step in FirstBank’s digital transformation journey, with hopes to improve service efficiency and maintain its competitive edge in Nigeria’s banking industry.

The announcement came amid recent challenges faced by tier-1 banks like Zenith Bank and GTBank who also recently upgraded their core banking system, leading to widespread customer frustration, with some depositors experiencing difficulties accessing their funds and performing transactions days after the official completion of the upgrades.

The lender explained the transition will be from its current I-Supplier platform, an automated platform that connects the bank to suppliers to a new cloud-based supplier platform, a platform for managing the bank’s suppliers.

The bank said that supplier platform update is part of FirstBank’s continuous investments in improving operational efficiencies and service experience.

The migration was scheduled to start from Saturday, October 26, 2024, to Sunday, November 3, 2024, while the new cloud-based supplier platform will be live on Monday, November 4, 2024, and normal activities will resume.

Many customers had misunderstood the earlier announcement and expressed apprehension on social media, fearing that the migration plans could disrupt their banking activities as it did with customers of the aforementioned tier-1 banks.

Addressing their worries, FirstBank has offered a response to what they called ‘A misleading report regarding its system upgrade’.

Saying that the upgrade would help in transitioning from their current platform, to a new Cloud-based Supplier Platform. Also enabling additional capabilities and benefits for their vendors.

In their response, FirstBank assured that its commitment to seamless service delivery remains unwavering as customers will continue to enjoy uninterrupted access to its services.

“We wish to address a misleading report circulating in the media regarding a system upgrade at FirstBank. The message; which was incorrectly interpreted and reported was sent to, and intended for our vendors only and focused on transitioning from our current I-Supplier Platform (our automated platform that connects us to suppliers) to a new Cloud-based Supplier Platform (world-class platform for managing suppliers), to enable additional capabilities and benefits for our vendors.

“Please be informed that no system upgrade is currently underway, and all our customer applications are fully operational. We are not experiencing disruption to our services, and our banking systems, customer transactions, channels, etc, will not be affected by the enhanced supplier platform,”

Folake Ani-Mumuney, Group Head, Marketing and Corporate Communications of FirstBank said in a statement emailed to Persecondnews.

“Rest assured that our commitment to seamless service delivery remains unwavering as you continue to enjoy uninterrupted access to our services,” the statement said.