Standard Bank apologises for credit card confusion

A LOCAL commercial bank has finally responded to problems experienced by its debit and credit card holders over the past two months.

Since mid-November last year, Standard Bank cardholders have not been able to pay with their cards at shops because of a programming error at the bank.
Shops that use the bank’s Point-of-Salea (POS) terminals have been unable to process other banks’ debit and credit cards too.
Many clients could also not do online banking.
‘Standard Bank Namibia would like to take this opportunity to apologise to its customers, merchants and the general public for any inconvenience that they may have suffered, and to also thank them for their patience and support during the system conversion,’ Elsabé Horn of Sindana Communications said on behalf of Standard Bank yesterday.
Standard Bank embarked on a major project to convert and replace all its credit cards by mid-November 2008.
This process was necessary as the bank has had to switch its credit card system from Rand to Namibian dollar to comply with regulations set by the Bank of Namibia.
As a result, some 27 000 credit cards held by Standard Bank Namibia clients had to be replaced, as well as all the bank’s Point-of-Sales (POS) systems nationwide.
‘As can be expected, this was a task of great magnitude that could only come into effect after the new Namswitch system had gone live on November 7 2008,’ Horn added.
Several media – including The Namibian – have reported about the problem over the past few weeks, but no reaction from Standard Bank could be obtained until yesterday.
‘Standard Bank Namibia would like to assure its customers and the general public that it is giving the highest priority to queries and concerns that clients may be experiencing with the recent credit card conversions of the bank,’ Horn’s statement reads.
‘Following recent articles in the local media, Standard Bank’s Director:
‘Personal and Business Banking, Mike Beaurain, stated that customers can rest assured that there is no greater risk with using cards than before. Our customers will not lose their money as a result of any temporary system problems that are being experienced.’
According to the statement, the problems experienced at some terminals during the holiday period were ‘isolated and only intermediate’ as a result of the system conversion.
‘Our customers should take note that problems experienced are not necessarily with their Standard Bank cards, but can also be as a result of faulty or incompatible POS terminals of any other bank.
The replacement of all POS machines is in process and this should be completed within the next few weeks,’ said Beaurain.
On Monday, a Standard bank clerk told The Namibian that the system fault would only be sorted out at the end of this month.
But according to yesterday’s statement, ‘all Standard Bank credit cards should be in working order’ by now.
If Standard Bank customers have not yet collected their new cards and Personal Identification Numbers (PINs), they are advised to do so as soon as possible.