Hordes of customers besieged Sterling Bank branches in Lagos on Wednesday as the bank’s digital platforms experienced hiccups.
The bank in a prior notice had announced an impending system upgrade that was guaranteed to enhance customer experience across all digital platforms.
It appeared things did not go exactly as planned as customers discovered some anomalies on their accounts on Monday, September 2, 2024.
Some said alerts received did not manifest when they checked on their mobile apps. For others, some of their listed accounts disappeared completely on the bank’s mobile app, One Bank.
Yet, others said they were sent money that never reflected on their accounts, whereas the senders had been debited.
Alarmed, many of the customers headed for the nearest Sterling Bank branch where they met with lots of other customers in similar predicaments.
At the Magboro branch of the bank on Wednesday, tempers flared dangerously as the branch shut its door against customers, citing congestion of the banking hall.
At one point, a woman threatened to resort to violence after she alleged that a customer was taken into the banking hall through the back door because he mentioned to a member of staff that two alerts totalling N3 million were missing from his account.
The angry lady protested what she called preferential treatment for the rich, stressing that every customer should matter to the bank.
“Now that he mentioned N3 million, they quickly arranged to take him inside by the back door. What happens to the rest of us who have been here for hours?” she charged at the staff.
At one point, she entered the door and refused to allow anyone inside the bank to exit until some other customers and some bank staff appealed to her.
When our reporter was leaving the branch at 2:40 pm, many of the customers could still not gain entry into the banking hall.
Some people left disappointed, while some others continued to keep vigil, hoping to be admitted later.
At other branches of Sterling across Lagos, customers had similar experiences, while many others took to social media to vent their spleen.
Sterling Bank is among the top 10 trending topics in Lagos at the time of filing this report.
Responding to the situation, Sterling Bank Help explained on its official ‘X’ page on Tuesday, September 3, that the difficulty customers experienced was a result of the system upgrade to improve users’ experience across all platforms.
The bank said all efforts were being made to ensure return to normalcy.
This had not materalised at the time of filing this report.
