Equity Bank Issues Statement After Outage Of Some Banking Services

• Equity Bank suffered service disruption in its banking platforms on Wednesday and promised to deal with the issue promptly
• The bank advised customers to seek alternative services at automatic teller machines, merchants, and Equity Agent shops
• Equity Bank posted a profit after tax of KSh 16 billion for the period ended March 2024, recovering from a dip registered at the close of 2023

TUKO.co.ke journalist Japhet Ruto brings over eight years of experience in financial, business, and technology reporting, offering deep insights into Kenyan and global economic trends.

Equity Bank has issued an advisory to customers after its banking services were hit by an intermittent outage on Wednesday, May 15.

The bank's customers had complained about being unable to access digital banking platforms.

In a statement, the lender apologised, saying that technicians had rolled up their sleeves to address the matter as quickly as possible.

The bank advised customers to seek withdrawal services, among others, at Equity Agents and automatic teller machines (ATMs).

How Equity customers lost millions

Detectives from the Banking Fraud Unit under the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) were probing 19 people linked to a fraud that saw the lender lose KSh 290 million.

The suspects fleeced the bank of millions through a massive debit fraud undertaken between April 9 and April 15.

In its letter to detectives, the bank reported that KSh 179.7 million was fraudulently paid out to 551 bank accounts; KSh 63 million was sent to M-Pesa and KSh 39 million to 11 commercial banks.

Equity employs professionals to deal with fraud

Equity Bank Group has been suffering from various cases of fraud, which have resulted in the loss of customers' savings.

The group's managing director and CEO, James Mwangi, said Equity is a leading global brand and fraud cases must stop.

Mwangi introduced a team of strategists employed by the bank to curb cybersecurity threats and fraud.

He explained that the company has strengthened its management bench to ensure an internal control environment.

Equity Bank recorded a KSh 16 billion profit after tax for the period ending March 2024.