FIRST BANK TO SHUT OPERATIONS ON THURSDAY, RE-OPENS ON MONDAY

Mr Bisi Onasanya

If you bank with First Bank, you might wanna carry out all your transactions with the bank today 'cos all their branches nationwide will be closed tomorrow and won't re-open until Monday, 10th June. Point of Sale transactions and transaction alerts by Short Message Service will not be possible during the period and, all card services, except Visa prepaid card, will not be available via Quick Teller and the Web Skeletal services would be available on its ATMs throughout the migration period until 5pm on Sunday, and would be restored at 6am on Monday.

The shutdown, according to the bank, is to enable it upgrade its core banking application from Finacle 7 to Finacle 10, (whatever that means) which will ensure easier and faster customer services and experience.

If you're interested, see the Group Managing Director, First Bank, Mr. Bisi Onasanya's open letter to customers after the cut.

Meanwhile, Mr Onasanya reminds me of Eddy Murphy in  the movie Nutty Professor.

“I write to thank you for your continuous patronage and inform you of our plan to upgrade our core banking application as part of the ongoing transformation of the bank.

“I am particularly excited at the prospect of this milestone as it represents the opportunity to significantly transform our service delivery to you in many respects, while also supporting our plans for the introduction of new and innovative products as we anticipate your every banking need.

“This is a major project and on account of the technical requirements, we regret that there will be some disruptions to our services for about three days, while the upgrade is ongoing.”