KINGSTON, Jamaica — The National Commercial Bank (NCB) is confirming that over 95 per cent of salary files received by end-of-day, Friday, May 24, 2019 have been processed.

The bank, in a statement Sunday afternoon, advised that NCB account holders in that batch received payments on Saturday, May 25, 2019, while people with accounts held at other institutions are expected to receive their salaries by Monday, May 27, if they have not already received them.

NCB said it received some additional files on Saturday, May 25 and is working to process these in the shortest possible time.

Today’s statement follows an apology on Friday after an upgrade by the bank caused a delay in the crediting of salaries to accounts.

The workers’ salaries which, under normal circumstances, would have been available for withdrawal by end of day Friday, May 24, was delayed as the bank continues to upgrade its platform.

The NCB said its team continues to work on ensuring that the processing of the outstanding files is completed today, Sunday, May 26. 

“Incomplete files, duplicate submissions, and errors in the files have impacted the pace of processing resulting in some further delays for a smaller fraction of files,” CEO Patrick Hylton reported, adding that in order to address this, “NCB continues to work with its valued business customers to rectify these issues quickly, and we commit to having all salaries paid in the shortest time.”

“We are aware of the personal challenges these delays have created for our customers and deeply regret the pain this experience has caused our customers. We are taking steps internally to ensure that impacted customers are not penalised with late fees on our loan and credit card facilities,” Hylton advised.

The bank said it has acknowledged the potential impact on customers’ ability to make loan, credit card, and utility payments in a timely manner.  Customers who have been impacted in this manner are encouraged to contact NCB at salary@jncb.com and we commit to reviewing and addressing challenges faced in the shortest time possible.

NCB said its technical teams also continue to work on issues affecting several customers in using some of the services on the online banking and mobile app platforms.

“We commit to keeping our customers updated on the timelines for service restoration. In the interim, banking services such as bill payments, credit card payments, cash and cheque deposits, transfers, and withdrawals, remain available in our branches 24 hours a day via our Bank on the Go intelligent ABMs and Kiosks.

“For online banking or mobile app service issues, customers are invited to send a detailed report with any supporting screenshots to ncbonline2019@jncb.com for assistance,” the bank said.

“The complete resolution of issues and restoration of customer confidence is the single priority of every single NCB team member starting with me. We will not rest until we make this right. Full stop,” said Hylton.