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Chase bank system outage enters fourth day

chase bank

People walk past a Chase Bank branch along Mama Ngina Street in Nairobi. FILE PHOTO | SALATON NJAU | NMG

Key banking services such as debit card transactions and mobile money transfer services are yet to resume at Chase Bank following an ICT system outage at the troubled lender.

The service interruption, which started on Sunday evening following the transitioning of its banking platform to SBM Holdings' new platform, has persisted for the fourth day in a row leaving hundreds of customers stranded.

The bank’s over-the-counter services such as cash deposits and withdrawals, cheque deposits, issuance of check books and electronic transfer services have however been operational despite the technical hitch.

SBM Bank Kenya acting chief executive, Jotham Mutoka, on Tuesday admitted the downtime had affected some of the bank’s services, but declined to give an indication as to when customers will start getting steady services.

“We are experiencing system downtime --but I may not be able to engage you further on the matter because I’m not the right person to comment,” said Mr Mutoka.

Chase Bank collapsed in 2016 with deposits of more than Sh100 billion, part of which was returned to small depositors while it was under the care of central bank.

Mauritius-based lender SBM formally took over the troubled lender in April this year upon conclusion of a sale deal.

The bank, whose shares trade on Stock Exchange of Mauritius, first entered the Kenyan market after acquiring bottom-tier lender Fidelity in 2016 for Sh100.

It then rebranded it to SBM Kenya in May 2017.

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