Bank of Valletta on Friday insisted the upgrade to its IT system which it carried out at the end of December was “a success”, despite customers complaining they experienced various problems in recent days.
The bank’s IT systems underwent extensive upgrades in December, with services being limited between December 27 and January 1. These included payments, BOV Internet Banking and BOV Mobile Banking which were not available during the upgrade period.
Despite going back online at the beginning of the year, customers have been experiencing issues with standing orders, home loan payments and have also struggled with getting through to the bank’s customer care hotline.
A BOV spokesperson stuck with an earlier statement by the bank that the system upgrade was “a success” and added it is “normal” that when a core banking IT system is replaced, “a number of fixes are required post implementation”.
The spokesperson said that as with anything that is new or different, there was bound to be a period during which both the bank’s staff and the customers were still getting used to the system.
While BOV staff who were working on the upgrade had been undergoing constant training for some three years, there were some issues that they only came across for the first time after the system was upgraded, the spokesperson said.
“We are aware that a small number of customers had queries that were and are being seen to by our people. These queries are not related to system issues but are a natural outcome of the adjustment required from one system to another.”
On complaints by customers that standing order dates had been mixed up and home loan commitments also mixed up as a result, the spokesperson said it was more likely users were still getting used to the system.
Some of the wording of the online instructions has been changed as a result of the upgrade and this could be confusing people, the spokesperson said.
“There are some teething problems, but these aren’t real problems. They are more like issues while everyone gets used to things,” the spokesperson said. He also said customers should not be concerned about safety issues, insisting the problems had nothing to do with any sort of security flaw.
On complaints by customers not getting through to the bank’s helpline, the spokesperson admitted the number of calls going through had increased significantly in recent weeks.
The bank, he said, was in the process of recruiting more people in order to beef up the customer care service.
“The numbers have shot up and we are aware that some people are not getting through. We are working on resolving that,” he said. Meanwhile, in a statement, the bank’s chief technology officer Joseph Aguis said the upgrade was not a straightforward one for a minor system.
“It involved the decommissioning of major banking systems and replacing them within a new state-of-the-art core banking IT system,” Mr Aguis said.