First Bank: We’re upgrading our suppliers’ platform, not mobile application

First Bank of Nigeria (FBN) says it plans to upgrade only its suppliers’ platform, not the company’s digital banking system.

In a statement on Friday, Folake Ani-Mumuney, group head of marketing and corporate communications at FBN, said the upgrade will not affect banking services, such as digital transactions.

Ani-Mumuney said reports had misunderstood its message to vendors about the transition from their current platform, I-Supplier — an automated platform that connects FBN to suppliers — to a new cloud-based supplier medium.

“We wish to address a misleading report circulating in the media regarding a system upgrade at FirstBank,” Ani-Mumuney said.

“The message which was incorrectly interpreted and reported was sent to, and intended for, our vendors only and focused on transitioning from our current I-Supplier Platform (our automated platform that connects us to suppliers) to a new Cloud-based Supplier Platform (world-class platform for managing suppliers), to enable additional capabilities and benefits for our vendors.

“Please be informed that no system upgrade is currently underway, and all our customer applications are fully operational.

“We are not experiencing disruption to our services, and our banking systems, customer transactions, channels, etc., will not be affected by the enhanced supplier platform.”

FBN assured the public of its commitment to seamless service delivery, promising uninterrupted access to all customer services.

First Bank said it will conduct the transition from October 26, to November 3 — with the cloud-based solution expected to be live on November 4, 2024,

On October 7, FBN announced the full restoration of services on its mobile banking platform, Firstmobile, following a disruption caused by an upgrade of its application.

Ani-Mumuney said Firstmobile is now fully operational.