Republic Bank apologises for new mobile app problems

Republic Bank Ltd has apologised to its customers for the issues experienced a few hours after it launched on Monday.

Newsday obtained a statement e-mailed to its customers on Monday night. The app was launched that morning.

It said the launch had an overwhelming response as customers visited the website and downloaded the new app.

“We have been making the necessary changes to ensure the speed of the new platform is improved so that you can start enjoying this improved online banking experience.”

The statement said customers who had issues accessing the new system through the app with a password that contained special characters should log in through the old online banking platform.

It added, “If after trying the steps above you are still experiencing login and account issues on the new platform, rest assured we are continuously monitoring the situation to identify and mitigate any challenges."

The banked thanked customers for their patience and offered apologies for the inconvenience.

Users were alerted via e-mail that the upgraded mobile app would be available in the Google Play and Apple App stores. It said the old version of the app was no longer functional and could be deleted.

One user, who requested anonymity, said she was unsatisfied with the bank’s communication with customers, the execution of the launch, and the functioning of the new platforms.

“About two nights ago I logged into my app and realised that it was no longer working,” she said.

“I remembered they announced they were launching a new app, so I discarded the old one and downloaded the new one.

“I watched the tutorial on what I had to do to log in and tried it. To my surprise I couldn’t log in. I realised that there was a new website as well so I tried logging in and got the same result.”

She said she took to social media and soon after venting her concerns she noticed the bank had posted on its social media that it was having technical issues.

She said she is still unable to use either the app or the website to check her accounts and now has to pay her bills physically .