Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank), one of Nigeria’s leading financial institutions with a market capitalization of ₦1.68 trillion, has successfully obtained a court order to recover ₦1.9 billion erroneously credited to customer accounts between October 28 and 29, 2024.
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The mishap occurred during the processing of duplicate transactions related to unapplied NIP (NIBSS Instant Payment) inflows.
Upon uncovering the error, GTBank launched an internal investigation, which revealed that a portion of the funds had been transferred to accounts at other banks. The bank subsequently sought legal intervention to restrict the affected accounts, and Justice F.N Ogazi of the Federal High Court in Lagos granted the order on Thursday. The court order has been served to the receiving banks, enabling the recovery of the misplaced funds.
The incident coincided with a turbulent period for GTBank following its decision to migrate its core banking application from Basis to Finacle in September 2024. Finacle, developed by Infosys, is widely used in Nigeria’s banking industry, and GTBank’s leadership had visited India as part of the decision-making process for the switch.
Despite the anticipated benefits of streamlining operations and enhancing customer experience, the transition to Finacle proved challenging. Customers reported erroneous transaction alerts and experienced weeks of unstable or unusable banking channels following the completion of the migration in October 2024. While the court documents do not explicitly link the duplicate transactions to the migration, incidents of customers completing transactions without receiving credit or debit alerts suggest a possible connection.
Frustrated GTBank customers took to social media platforms like X between September and November to express their dissatisfaction with the disruptions and the bank’s lack of communication. In November 2024, the bank issued a public apology addressing the issues.
The technology challenges surrounding core banking upgrades emerged as a significant theme in 2024, with at least four commercial banks undergoing software switches or upgrades. The resulting customer disruptions prompted the Central Bank of Nigeria to issue a directive mandating banks to obtain regulatory approval before commencing such upgrades in the future.
GTBank has not yet responded to requests for comment on the matter.
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