UK charity bank CAF branded a 'disaster' after platform migration goes wrong

Customers booted from system and technical integration missing from upgrade

A UK bank serving charities has come under fire from customers unable to log in or make transactions on its new online platform.

CAF Bank, owned by the Charities Aid Foundation, has migrated to the cloud-based Temenos Transact (formerly T24) after a project lasting a number of years.

The new banking platform launched on June 9 designed to expand the services and support provided by the bank after it moved off Bankmaster, a platform from Finastra (formerly Misys), which it signed up to in 2005.

Not long after, customers' frustration spilled onto social media. Chief among the complaints was poor integration with QuickBooks, popular accounting software for small organizations in the UK. Customers also complained they were logged out of the system and left waiting for hours trying to access a support desk by phone. Problems appear to be ongoing.

Last week, the bank issued a statement apologizing to customers experiencing difficulties with the service.

"For payments, reference numbers are now being received by the beneficiaries, and we have improved the search functionality for finding those you need to pay," the statement said.

CAF Bank said it had identified why QuickBooks is not connecting with the new service and promised that customers would be able to reconnect their accounts by July 11, more than a month after the service went live. On social media, customers described the transition to the new banking platform as a "disaster," complaining that they had been cut off while on hold to the support desk.

Other charities using the banking service said management of the transition was "disgraceful." Trustees were left logged out of the platform and payroll runs were missed.

In a statement to The Register, a CAF Bank spokesperson said: "Updating our banking system has been a significant but essential undertaking after years of planning, preparing, and testing. We are 100 percent focused on supporting our customers through the transition and helping them with the new online banking service. The vast majority of our customers are online, with thousands of payments being made and received every day.

"We are sorry for the disruption and waits on calls that some of our customers have experienced following the launch. We have significantly increased the number of colleagues available to answer calls and assist customers at this time. As a bank that is wholly owned by a charity, the work of our customers is central to everything we do, and we are fully committed to resolving any challenges as quickly as possible."

The bank has not disclosed how much it has spent on the platform. Its annual deposits are around £1.42 billion ($1.93 billion), and it supports around 14,000 customers. ®