Big bank problems

TGIF! ☀️

Move over, space cowboys—Prada just brought haute couture to moonwalks. In a partnership with Axiom Space, the fashion giant helped design a new spacesuit that’s as functional as it is fabulous. 

Forget your basic astronaut gear, the AxEMU suit is built for the moon’s South Pole and looks good doing it. With custom gloves, lunar-ready boots, a helmet equipped with lights, 4G/LTE network, and an HD camera, the suit is ready for space and selfies. Looks like even in zero gravity, style still matters.

The AxEMU will be worn by NASA astronauts on the Artemis III mission to the moon, scheduled for “no earlier” than September 2026. 

GTBank customers stranded as migration stalls

Imagine the frustration of being unable to access your hard-earned money. That's the unfortunate reality for many GTBank customers in Nigeria, left stranded by a recent system migration that has disrupted banking services.

In September, my colleague Muktar reported that GTBank—a Nigerian bank with 32.8 million retail customers—was finalising a switch to a new core banking system. For the uninitiated, a core banking system is the engine of the bank. Think of it as software that banks use to manage all their essential banking operations, including customer accounts, deposits, withdrawals, loans, and transfers.

Changing a core banking system is no small feat, especially because it involves moving massive amounts of customer data. For GTbank, with its 32 million users, that process is not a small ask.

Although the bank has announced—on at least two occasions—that it has completed the switch to its new banking system, Finacle, customers are telling a different story. Many have taken to social media to report persistent issues, ranging from being unable to perform transactions to cases of erroneous debits and credits.

These disruptions are happening because changing a bank’s core banking application causes short-term service interruptions due to the complexity and time required for the migration. While Sterling Bank and Zenith Bank customers also experienced similar issues, GTBank's migration has caused the longest disruptions.

One consultant who spoke to me claims that total integration takes months to complete and often takes longer than expected because of the “meticulous” attention to detail required to avoid errors and ensure data integrity. 

One product manager at a big Nigerian bank claims that banks typically integrate slowly to mitigate fraud. Banks have established security measures and fraud detection systems in place, and a sudden, complete switch to a new platform could disrupt these systems, creating potential vulnerabilities.

GTBank's migration to the Finacle platform, which began in the fourth quarter of 2023, is proving to be no exception.

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On Wednesday, Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan, the biggest bank in the U.S., met with a small group of African venture capitalists and tech founders in Lagos Nigeria.

Dr Ola Brown, who runs VC firm, HealthCap, Kola Aina of Ventures Platform, Iyin Aboyeji of Future Africa, Tayo Oviosu, founder of Nigerian fintech Paga, and Tosin Eniolorunda, the CEO of Moniepoint, were some of the people in attendance.

Some attendees who say they got to ask him questions ranging from personal to business described the meeting as “intimate” and declined to share specifics. However, according to one investor, one learning from the meeting was Dimon’s bullishness about Africa. He talked up JP Morgan’s expansion plan on the continent.

The bank which has 100 branches across the world, recently opened offices in Ivory Coast and Kenya to offer its lending, treasury and investment banking services. Dimon hopes the bank will set ship in other major African countries like Nigeria and South Africa.

But that ambition may be slowed by regulatory requirements in these countries.

The bank’s previous plans to expand to Ghana and Kenya in 2018 failed due to related reasons. 

Dimon hopes the government will make the right decision. 

 JP Morgan’s push into Africa follows the trend of global banks seeking to serve international companies in Africa and scale their corporate transactions on the continent . 

While the continent is already populated with banks, foreign banks like JP Morgan will compete by offering private banking services and access to investments like offshore equity.

But the talk with investors was not all business. One attendee who described the meeting as inspiring said Dimon shared some personal anecdotes about how he manages to maintain work-life balance by focusing on work and his family. “You get the sense that he is someone that is extremely focused.”

Dimon will also visit South Africa where it currently offers asset management services, to rally support from influential stakeholders. With any luck, he'll form meaningful relationships and learn firsthand about the market dynamics.

A virtual courtroom erupted into “Adani must go” chants as angry Kenyans forced the High Court to adjourn a case that could decide the fate of the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA). The suit filed by the Kenyan Human Rights Commission (KHRC) and the Law Society of Kenya (LSK), wants to overturn the secretive 30-year concession deal with India’s Adani Group.

The project, leaked to the public by a whistleblower in July, will include building a new terminal and taxiways at JKIA to expand its capacity from seven million travellers annually to 20 million by 2030. Many Kenyans have opposed the deal because of its secrecy—the government has declined to share the specifics of the agreement. 

Critics say the concession deal is “irrational” and does not follow Kenyan laws, including the Public-Private Partnerships Act of 2021. KHRC and LSK said in court that Kenya can afford to raise the $1.85 billion required to expand JKIA locally. They also insist that Kenyan taxpayers will not get value for their money.

But President Ruto’s administration has defended the projects, claiming that public-private partnerships (PPPs) are the only way the country can meet its infrastructural needs as mounting debt cuts government spending.

With anger simmering and trust in the government declining, the battle over East Africa’s biggest aviation hub is just beginning.