…Republic Bank says has capacity to process public servants’ December salaries, backpay
…Gov’t urges speedy resolution to chaos

By Alisa Lashley
UNDER pressure to fix the quirks in its banking system, Republic Bank, Guyana Limited, has stated, on Thursday, that it will be able to facilitate the payment of public servants’ backpay and other payments in December.

The assurance was given by the Bank’s Managing Director, Amral Khan, to Governor of Central Bank, Dr Gobind Ganga.

In the letter which was seen by this newspaper, the bank first said, that it has thus far paid, as at Thursday’s date, all salaries. “We have in place four processing options which we are utilising to ensure customers access their salaries on time,” Khan said in his letter to Dr Ganga. “We have requested employers to submit their payroll three days in advance to facilitate payments to their staff on the required payment date. We advise however, should there be any errors in the submission this lead time will assist us in rectifying and process on time. We confirm that we have the capacity to process all monthly and retroactive payments in December and will liaise with our customers to expedite submission early,” Khan asserted.

All of Republic Bank branches and ATM booths have been scenes of chaos and long lines in recent days. Khan told the Central Bank Governor that employers who maintain accounts with the Bank can utilise its Internet Banking service, Republic Online, to process payrolls immediately “and our teams continue to engage these entities to expedite signup.”
On the issue of bank cards, Khan said there was no need for customers to replace their existing cards unless they were damaged, the PIN was forgotten, or they were in possession of the expired Access24 card. He said communication to customers was in place, advising of this “and we shall continue to engage them to clarify any misinformation. Additional communication will also be explored.”

Regarding ATM and Point of Sale Terminals, Khan said some customers’ account type (chequing/saving) were changed with the conversion and the bank had advised them of this. “Many of them continue to choose the wrong account type when processing transactions, and that was causing anxiety on their part. Consequently, they were visiting our branches for a resolution and that was negatively impacting our lines in the Branch. Communication is in place to direct customers to use the correct classification and we continue to work with them in this regard,” the bank’s managing director said.

Inefficient services
Republic Bank had been heavily criticised over the past few weeks by its customers because of “inefficient” services which were being offered by the bank, especially since its transition to a new banking platform early this month. As the complaints continued to pile up against the financial institution, Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan, sought to give some clarity to what was going on with Republic Bank’s systems. “The situation has to do with their (Republic Bank) IT (Information Technology) systems and not a lack of money… the issue is the ability to get the money on time and in a manner that other banks are offering a service,” said Minister Jordan during an interview with Social Activist Mark Benschop on Benschop Radio, on Tuesday evening.

Republic Bank had transitioned to its new banking platform on November 4, 2019. The company, in a press statement subsequent to its transition, had said: “as with the introduction of any new system, we are experiencing some challenges. We recognise the impact to our service delivery and wish to assure you, our valued customers and stakeholders, that we are committed to resolving these challenges in the shortest timeframe possible.”

Minister Jordan had also confirmed that the bank was doing everything possible to make the transition to the new system less onerous than it was. “I do not know that they can do much more beyond what they are doing, but it is not a case that they do not have money…it is just the IT problem and the change-over to a better system,” said the minister.
Although the bank had been working to rectify the problem, Minister Jordan said the company should have established a contingency plan or “plan B” from the inception. With the absence of a plan B, he believed that the company will begin to “feel the pressure” because the current inefficiencies will result in fallout between the bank and its customers, who might even switch to other banks.

“Well, as I said, they know unless they come good they will lose some of their customers…I do not think customers will stand for long lines and frustration…Republic Bank will have to do a selling job to maintain their customers because it is not as if Republic Bank is the only bank in town, customers have a choice…Republic Bank has to do all they can to make certain customers do not exercise that choice of leaving the bank,” said the Finance Minister.

He also believed that the inefficiencies in Republic Bank’s IT system justify government’s decision to deny the application for Republic Financial Holdings Limited, the parent company of Republic Bank Guyana, for the purchase/acquisition of the operations of Scotiabank in Guyana. Minister Jordan said: “our position of not having them take over Scotia proves to be a correct one…I do not think their IT structure that they have could have handled such a merger…this is one of the reasons the governor told me they could not accommodate them together.”

No challenges to the integrity of data
Meanwhile, in a statement on Thursday, the Bank explained that, on November 4, 2019, it completed the conversion to its new banking systems which involved the conversion of over 15 banking applications/systems including the core banking platform, the wire transfer solution, the internet banking solution, debit and credit card issuing solution as well as the launch of a new mobile banking platform and new credit card acquiring capability. While the Bank, with the assistance of its Parent in Trinidad and Tobago and numerous international consultants, employed the most intense and updated systems integration and user acceptance testing, several challenges have been experienced since the conversion. “We would like to unequivocally apologise to our valued clients for the challenges experienced and thank you for your extreme patience,” the bank said. It added that, among the challenges encountered, were difficulties in accessing services through its new internet banking and mobile banking services, delays in processing of payrolls and wire transfers as well as lengthy delays in completion of some transactions in branch, inconsistencies with respect to the use of our various other electronic services such as our ATMs and POS services and the need for most of our existing online banking clients to re-establish their various utility payment instructions. “Notwithstanding these challenges, we would like to assure clients that there have been no challenges with respect to the integrity of our data or the security of our new IT systems. Both the data and system infrastructure have been designed to satisfy the latest international standards re data protection and cyber security,” Republic Bank said.

According to the bank, while many of these challenges were unexpected, “we were aware that the conversion exercise was very complex. We would like to assure our clients that we are gradually resolving the challenges and we expect to have the issues fully resolved by the middle of December 2019.”

“In the meantime, we are putting various additional measures in place to make it easier for clients to access both the information and the people needed to resolve any individual concerns. When fully resolved, we are confident that clients will enjoy their new banking experience which some may already have noticed affords greater convenience and flexibility,” the bank said.

Put systems in place to remedy situation
Also weighing in on the matter, Director-General of the Ministry of the Presidency, Joseph Harmon, made it clear that the government will not sit idly by and allow the Republic Bank Limited (RBL) to disrupt the lives of thousands of Guyanese. The Director-General, therefore, called on the bank to put better systems in place and ensure that their recently-upgraded system was fixed promptly. “I am saying to you that we will not sit idly by while people are unable to get their salaries…that is wrong. The bank has to do something better than that,” the Director-General said at a post-cabinet press briefing on Thursday. He added, “If the bank has to alter its mechanisms, it has to put in place some manual facility so that the people can get their money, then they will have to do it.”

DG Harmon further stated that Minister of Finance, Hon. Winston Jordan, will outline other measures which will have to be implemented. When asked about sanctions in place for such actions, DG Harmon explained these issues fall within the remit of the Finance Minister and the Governor of the Bank of Guyana and they will determine “what needs to be done.”