Himalayan Bank services have been disrupted for the past 16 days. The bank has attributed it to an important system upgrade; however, this has barred the bank’s hundreds of thousands of customers from services for over a week.
The bank issued a notice on Ashoj 31 stating that from Kartik 3 to 10, it planned to upgrade its core banking software T-24 release to R-23. The bank had mentioned that all its branches, ATM outlets, mobile/internet banking, and other services would be affected. Therefore, the customers were affected during the Tihar festivities and had continued days beyond it despite the bank sharing that services would be resumed normally from Kartik 10 onwards.
The customers have not been able to make payments for utilities and services through their mobile banking app. The same goes for internet banking users, as they are not able to avail themselves of the electronic services.
Also: Himalayan Bank Cash Deposit Machine comes into operation
Himalayan Bank services affected after core system upgrade work
Himalayan Bank customers say that the bank’s services, including the mobile banking service, are running slowly. The same goes for other services of the bank. Unfortunately, though, the bank hasn’t offered clear information on when the service would start operating normally. Upon presenting the same query, the bank’s official Rita Singh remarked that “services have gradually resumed. Mobile banking is running slowly, but maybe all the services will come into operation from today.”
Amidst all the sham, the bank has launched its new mobile banking app called HIMB Plus, which is already available on both the Play Store and App Store of Google and Apple, respectively. But it seems that the app is not yet operational smoothly.
The lack of transparency and sustained disservice to the bank’s customers have raised a question about the efficiency and the lack of accountability of the bank towards its customers. The regulatory bank, Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), also doesn’t seem to intervene in the matter.
While technical issues are complex and core system upgrades do take time, it’s protracted in the case of the Himalayan Bank, and it should have handled it better.