Bank warns customers over systems shut down

Cape Town - Standard Bank [JSE:SBK] has advised its customers of a planned system upgrade due to take place on Sunday March 15, which will affect certain banking activities and transactions throughout the day, starting from 01:30 to 23:00 on Sunday evening.  

Customers will still be able to make cash withdrawals and deposits at ATMs and be able to use their Standard Bank debit, cheque or credit card to make payments.

However, the following services will be affected:

- Limited access to telephone banking
- Limited services available to customers at Standard Bank branches and via the customer call centre
- Delay in statements and notifications
- Customers will not be able to access Standard Bank’s Banking App, Internet Banking, and Cellphone Banking
- Customers will not be able to do online card transactions

“We understand that banking plays an essential part of everyday life," said Funeka Montjane, Standard Bank’s chief executive of personal and business banking in SA. "With the nature of how customers engage with banks changing significantly, it’s therefore imperative for Standard Bank to play a key role in this ever changing environment.”

“In order to create, update and introduce new functionalities, solutions and services that will empower and enrich customers, we need to change how we do banking. This means upgrading our systems capability and technical support to effectively implement and manage the process, resulting in planned downtimes.”

To ensure that the downtime has minimal impact on banking activities, Standard Bank would like to encourage customers to please plan ahead and consider doing the following:

- Making payments or doing banking transactions via internet banking, cellphone banking and the banking app before Sunday
- Transferring any required money to relevant accounts ahead of time
- Topping up airtime and electricity before the weekend in order to avoid any shortfall
- Although customers will be able to use their debit or credit card to make purchases, it is worthwhile for customers to consider withdrawing cash to have on hand

“We understand the frustration and impact to customers that disruptions to services have and apologise in advance for the inconvenience," she said. "We ask customers to please bear with us during this time as we work on upgrading our banking facilities with the aim of delivering improved services to our customers."

Should customers have any queries, they are encouraged to contact Standard Bank’s call centre on 0860 123 000.