South Africa’s Standard Bank warns of service disruptions

Standard Bank has been forced to schedule downtime for certain banking activities and transactions after system changes.

The lender said early this week that the changes will be crucial in providing a single customer view and will also ensure consistent customer experience across different channels meant to protect personal data.

The bank’s customers are expected to have limited access to bank account facilities such as beneficiary payments and inter-account transfers.

Other service disruptions include ATM deposits and the bank’s app, internet and cellphone services will be affected.

“System changes will result in planned downtime on Sunday, 7 February,” read a statement from the bank, adding that the changes will equally affect ability of customers to perform certain banking activities and transactions from 2am on Sunday morning until 8pm that evening.

The bank said it expects that customers will still be able to use their debit, cheque or credit cards to make in-store purchases and cash withdrawals at ATMs, while Mobile app transaction services such as SnapScan and MasterPass are also expected to work, said Standard Bank.