Since August 30, over 3 million Nigerians have been asking one question: why is Sterling Bank, a Nigerian tier-2 bank, inaccessible?
Reports indicate that the week-long outage was due to the bank’s switch to a new core banking application (CBA). The bank transitioned from Temenos T24 to SEABaaS, a custom-built software. This marks Sterling Bank’s third migration since 2016.
CBAs are instrumental back-end systems that manage banking transactions and financial records. Software migrations are common in the banking sector, with durations varying from weeks to months or even a year based on complexity.
Banks often migrate their software to balance operational costs, enhance security, or improve efficiency. Sterling Bank has highlighted this transition, touting it as a significant advancement despite customer challenges in accessing banking services.
The inconvenience faced by Nigerian users trying to carry out transactions using their mobile app during this period has been widely acknowledged. Some users even encountered difficulties accessing their salaries.
Sterling Bank’s adoption of a custom-built CBA aligns with the trend observed in other financial institutions like Kuda and Moniepoint. The expectation is that this new software will optimize operations and cater better to the bank’s specific needs.
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