Republic Bank apologises to customers

Nov 29, 2019 News

…tells Central Bank it has systems to handle Christmas crowds, backpay

– Govt. says it will not sit idly by

The ongoing situation at Republic Bank is exasperating even the Government, with the financial institution again writing the regulator – Bank of Guyana – to assure it is doing all it can to reduce the long lines.

Director-General Joseph Harmon

Since earlier this month, the Trinidad-owned bank which has several branches in Guyana and is the biggest in terms of number of customers, has been faced with problems.
The bank has started a conversion process to modernize its systems to cater for more online and other similar transactions. However, the process has not gone smoothly, with customers locked out of accounts and many of them claiming that they were unable to access their salaries for days.
As a result, the lines have been significant, with customers taking to social media and the letter pages to complain.
Customers said they were forced to spend hours in the bank and even line up as early as 06:30hrs with hopes they could get through.
The anger has largely been as a result of the little information provided publicly, until now, from the

Central Bank Governor, Dr. Gobind Ganga

bank.
Republic Bank told the Central Bank (Bank of Guyana) that it was looking to mid-December to iron out the problems.
It would be a huge embarrassment for the bank which had only a few months ago made a bid to purchase the Scotiabank operations in Guyana and in a number of other Caribbean territories.
The Bank of Guyana had, after months of due diligence, rejected the application, expressing worry over the market share that Republic Bank would have held in Guyana.
Yesterday, at the Ministry of the Presidency, chief government spokesman, Director-General Joseph Harmon, was clear – government is unwilling to stand idly by.
At the post-Cabinet press briefings, Harmon acknowledged reports that the lives of thousands of

Customers in line outside Republic Bank’s Water Street location

Guyanese have been affected.
The Director-General called on the bank to put better systems in place and ensure that their recently upgraded system is fixed promptly.
“I am saying to you that we will not sit idly by, and while people are unable to get their salaries…that is wrong. The bank has to do something better than that.”
He added, “If the bank has to alter its mechanisms; it has to put in place some manual facility so that the people can get their money, then they will have to do it”.
It was disclosed that Minister of Finance Winston Jordan will outline other measures which will have to be implemented.
Yesterday, Republic Bank again wrote a concerned Bank of Guyana. It told the Governor, Dr. Gobind Ganga, that there are four processing options to allow customers access to salaries.
To allow legroom, the bank said it has asked employers to submit payrolls three days in advance.
“We confirm that we have the capacity to process all monthly and retroactive payments in December and will liaise with our customers to expedite submissions early.”
The bank said it is working with customers to use its internet banking service.
The bank said it has noted that because account types were changed during the conversion, many customers were choosing wrong account types, which has been voiding transactions and causing backups.
It told the Governor that queries are being handled throughout the network and a call centre has been set up specifically to handle the complaints.
Meanwhile, in a statement, the bank apologized to its customers.
It was disclosed that over 15 banking application systems were being addressed in the conversion and upgrade to the new system. These included an upgraded core banking platform, a wire transfer solution; an internet banking solution, debit and credit card issuing solution as well as the launch of a new banking platform and new credit card acquiring capability.
Working with the bank to make the conversion happen were its parent company from Trinidad and a number of international consultants. However, the bank admitted, there were several challenges as a result of the process.
Persons complained about challenges encountered in accessing services through the new internet banking and mobile banking services; delays in processing of payrolls and wire transfers as well as lengthy delays in completion of some transactions.
The bank assured that the integrity of the data and security has not been compromised.
“While many of these challenges were unexpected, we were aware that the conversion exercise was very complex,” the statement said.
The bank said it will resolve the issues by mid-December and promised that improved services will be coming as a result of the conversion.