Sterling Bank, a tier-2 Nigerian bank with a market capitalization of ₦115.16 billion, is migrating to SEABaaS, a new custom-built core banking application. The migration, which began on August 30, has left its over 3 million customers unable to use any of Sterling’s banking channels. Many of those customers have shared their complaints on social media platforms.
“I’ve been unable to open the One Bank app for over five days,” a Sterling Bank customer who asked not to be named told TechCabal.
While the bank notified customers about possible service disruptions due to the upgrade, it did not provide specifics.
“A core banking application is a critical tool for all financial institutions, so an upgrade of this nature is a big deal,” said a software expert at a Nigerian bank who asked not to be named.
Building these systems is time-consuming, expensive, and risky. A botched system upgrade at Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) in 2012 left over 6 million customers unable to access their accounts. The bank was later fined £56m by regulators.
SEABaaS, its new software, was built to Sterling Bank’s specification, three people with knowledge of the matter told TechCabal. A Google search shows that SEABaaS is also a product by Bazara Tech Inc., a Nigerian software company, suggesting that they may have developed the new software.
According to Bazara Tech Inc. ’s website, “SEABaaS is a future-proof, platform-agnostic core banking SaaS solution designed to elevate user experience for enterprise customers. Its architecture features microservices, APIs, hybrid cloud, and multi-cloud. It also spans a unified 360-degree customer view, AI and machine Learning capabilities, and intuitive user interfaces.”
Bazara Tech Inc. did not immediately respond to a request for comments.
Sterling Bank previously used Temenos T24, a banking software used by Keystone Bank and the Central Bank of Nigeria. Finacle is another popular core banking software option First Bank, Stanbic IBTC, UBA, and FCMB use.
Changing its banking application could be driven by cost considerations, difficulties in integrating with existing legacy systems, or attempts to avoid vendor lock-in.
Sterling Bank did not respond to a request for comments.
Sterling Bank will share details of the new banking software and migration process next week after it solves the current downtime, two people with knowledge of the process said. The bank considers the development of its custom banking software a major move in Nigerian banking, the same people said.
Before that grand rollout to the press, it will need to pacify customers, many of whom could still not use the One Bank app at the time of this report, so as not to jump ship while it continues its migration.
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