NASSAU, BAHAMAS- Fidelity Bank Bahamas Chief Executive Officer Gowon Bowe says the institution’s migration to a new online banking platform and mobile application was successfully executed, though some customers experienced early challenges adjusting to the new system.
“The actual transition, which was the transfer of data from the legacy system into the new system, was completed successfully,” Bowe said. “There were no issues as it relates to the transfer of balances, data, usernames, and all of the like.”
He said the core upgrade, completed over the weekend of June 12, also included a change in the bank’s underlying banking system, with the digital channels serving as the primary interface for customers.
“As with any system transition, there are what I’m going to call nuances that you can’t identify,” he said. “But from that perspective, it was a significant success.”
However, Bowe acknowledged that the first week exposed a series of user-specific and communication-related issues, rather than systemic failures.
“There were no systemic failures, but there were issues that have been identified and usually limited to a very small population,” he said.
One of the most common challenges involved login credentials carried over from the legacy system, particularly username formatting.
“If your username came over from the legacy system and it had a capital letter and you didn’t remember that, trying to register into the new system, you were getting the error message that your username was not recognized,” Bowe explained.
He also pointed to a communication gap regarding the use of WhatsApp for one-time passcodes, which some customers did not anticipate.
“What we didn’t make clear was that the messages were coming through WhatsApp,” he said. “Some persons were looking for it in open text and some persons don’t have WhatsApp on the phone that they have registered with the bank.”
Bowe said WhatsApp was selected for security reasons, including encryption and verification safeguards.
“For security reasons, WhatsApp was chosen because it’s an encrypted message and open text has been found to have been compromised in other circumstances,” he said.
He added that the scale of activity triggered an automated security response from WhatsApp’s parent company, Meta.
“We had over 25,000 one-time password requests,” Bowe said. “And WhatsApp or Meta identified that as spam. And so they placed a pause.”
He said Meta later confirmed that its system uses adaptive learning based on usage volume.
“Their algorithm actually is a learning tool that looks at volumes over a period of time,” he said. “And once they’ve indicated that was being legitimate, it will build up its tolerance for the levels that we’re going through.”
On transactions, Bowe said most domestic wire transfers have continued to process normally, though a small portion remains under review.
“Out of 26 roughly on a daily basis, 22 of them are going,” he said. “And for some reason, four of them are not.”
He said the bank is actively resolving those exceptions.
“We are investigating,” he said. “And we are seeking to make sure that all of that is cleared.”
Bowe added that customers affected by delays may have experienced temporary account impacts, but stressed the issues are not systemic.
“I treat this a little bit like an iOS update,” he said. “You start kissing your teeth because you’re saying, ‘what the hell did they change this for?’ And I was comfortable with the old way.”
He added that while adjustments are required, the majority of services remain functional.
“All of our core functions are operating,” he said. “There are no functions that are not operating.”
Some temporary disruptions also affected credit card payment processing, which was restored after platform updates across major providers.
“That didn’t operate as intended during the week, but that was all restored on Friday,” Bowe said.
He also confirmed that Android users experienced a delayed rollout due to platform requirements from Google.
“Google insisted that they had to have their own individual access to the app,” he said. “And they ultimately conceded to a dummy account.”
Despite the early friction, Bowe said the system upgrade positions the bank for stronger long-term capability, particularly in corporate banking.
“By the time it is all completed, Fidelity Bank will have an online functionality for businesses that will have full input and approval functionality,” he said.
He maintained that while the transition was not without issues, it remains fundamentally stable.
“There are some teething pains,” he said. “But as I said, no systemic issues.”
