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Customers of several banks are facing inconvenience as card, ATM, POS and other technology-based banking services have been suspended for up to five to seven days due to system migration, maintenance and technological upgrades.
The simultaneous suspension of services by a number of banks has caused concern among customers, particularly those who increasingly depend on digital banking and ATM services for their daily transactions.
At a Bank Asia branch in Bashundhara on Monday, customers were seen under pressure to withdraw cash. Several customers were also asking bank officials whether there was any problem with the bank’s operations.
An “Out of Service” notice was displayed at the bank’s ATM booth.
Customers said they were frustrated that several services would remain unavailable for days, while cheque withdrawals remained an option.
A frustrated customer said, “Services can be suspended for maintenance, but customers should be informed at least four or five days in advance. Not everyone has a cheque book. People are now accustomed to digital transactions.”
The disruption is not limited to one bank. Krishi Bank, Bank Asia, National Bank, NCC Bank and Social Islami Bank, among others, have recently issued notices about temporary suspension of some technology-based services for system maintenance, migration or upgrading.
In one case, a bank informed customers that several services would remain suspended from 9pm on 4 October to 12pm on 10 October due to an emergency system migration of the Q-Cash network.
The affected services include certain card transactions, ATMs, cash recycling machines (CRMs) and POS terminals linked to the network.
The bank said the migration was being carried out to ensure safer and more advanced banking services.
However, it said debit card transactions would remain operational, while customers could use other banks’ ATMs and POS terminals, Bangla QR and mobile financial services such as bKash, Nagad and Upay for alternative transactions. Fund transfers to banks outside the Q-Cash network would also remain available, according to the notice.
Another Q-Cash member bank informed customers that its ATM, card, POS, NPSB, e-commerce and QR services would remain unavailable from 4 October until noon on 10 October.
The prolonged interruption has raised questions about whether customers are being given sufficient advance notice when essential banking services are scheduled to remain unavailable for several days.
The scale of the disruption is also linked to the wide reach of the Q-Cash network.
Monowar, a senior officer at Q-Cash Payment Gateway, told the Daily Sun that the temporary disruption of services was caused by an emergency system migration of the Q-Cash network.He said “The migration affected member banks connected to the network, which has a consortium of more than 35 banks. As the participating banks use the Q-Cash network for various electronic transaction services, some services have had to remain suspended during the migration process.”
A customer of one of the affected banks, Imdad Hossain, recently went to an ATM booth in Mirpur to withdraw money only to find a notice saying transactions would remain suspended for five days.
He said he had no prior knowledge of the disruption.
“Banking services may have to be suspended. But if customers were informed in advance, they could have taken the necessary cash beforehand. The bank did not do that. I only found out when I came to withdraw money,” he said.
The problem becomes more serious for customers who do not maintain cheque books or live far from bank branches, as ATM and card services have become the primary means of accessing their money.
BB: Simultaneous notices created panic
Bangladesh Bank spokesperson and Executive Director Arief Hossain Khan told the Daily Sun that the simultaneous notices issued by several banks had caused some anxiety among customers.
“Receiving this type of message from many banks at the same time created panic among customers,” he said.
He explained that banks generally carry out such system-related work periodically, often through third-party technology service providers.
According to him, each bank normally conducts such work about once a year, while third-party service providers schedule the work according to their own operational convenience.
“The third parties may not realise how much difficulty customers will face if services of so many banks are disrupted at the same time,” he said.
He said each bank may have assumed that only its own services would remain unavailable because it was not aware of the schedules of other banks.
“If the banks had an opportunity to coordinate among themselves, perhaps so many banks would not have carried out the work at the same time,” Arief said.
He said the simultaneous disruption had sent a negative message to the public.
“If Bangladesh Bank’s permission were required, we could have asked the banks to do it on a staggered basis. But since such permission is not required, this situation has emerged incidentally,” he said.
Arief also said the central bank had not been informed in advance by the banks about the suspension of some services.
He added that banks should have provided customers with prior notice before suspending important services for several days.
Banking sector officials say temporary service disruptions for system upgrades or routine maintenance are not unusual. Depending on the nature of the technology and the scale of the work, some services may remain unavailable for several hours or several days.
But the growing use of mobile apps, cards, ATMs, QR payments and electronic fund transfers means customers are now increasingly dependent on digital channels.
As a result, even a temporary interruption can cause significant inconvenience, particularly when several banks suspend services simultaneously.
Q-Cash network covers a large banking footprint
IT Consultants PLC (ITC PLC), a public limited company and a licensed payment system operator, began its technology and business operations in 2001. The company acquired Bangladesh Electronic Payment Systems Ltd (BEPS) in September 2008.
According to information provided by the company, Q-Cash has a consortium of more than 35 banks, covering around 6,000 bank branches. Its branch-wise coverage accounts for more than 80% of the market, while the network also operates a large number of ATMs and POS terminals across the country.
With such a broad network, a system migration or technical upgrade involving multiple member banks at the same time can have a much wider impact on customers.
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