Accra, May 7, GNA - Ghana Commercial Bank Ltd. (GCB) said on Thursday that its systems have been operating normally following an upgrading it embarked on last weekend.

"As I speak with you, almost all our 149 branches are operating smoothly," Mrs Thyra Obuobi, Deputy Public Affairs Manager of GCB, told Commernet (internet) banking services as well as other services are in operation," she said in reaction to complaints by customers of some branches of challenges they faced.

While she apologised to customers for the inconvenience caused them, Mrs Obuobi said GCB had to upgrade its systems because the number of branches had increased with an attendant increase in data and therefore had to embark on this exercise to enhance service to customers.

"This we did over the weekend and we have been working since Monday (May 4). But as is usual with systems upgrading of this nature, there can be glitches which can interrupt service at a branch for a few minutes, but we have been working normally," she said. "We can assure you that our experts are on the ground to ensure an enhanced and efficient system."

Mr. Lawrence Adu-Mante, Managing Director of the bank, said recently that the GCB was upgrading its banking application software as well as some hardware equipment as part of efforts to improve services. He said GCB would soon open its 150th branch when the new branch on the Spintex Road in the Tema Municipality begins operations. This is up from 138 a year ago.

During that period GCB introduced new services and products like Royal Banking, the Bank's version of the private banking, Commernet Plus, their enhanced internet banking service, and Mastercard. GCB has cautioned that this year was critical for Ghana, as the financial crisis which has hit the US and Europe is having repercussions on the country, especially the financial sector. "We have strengthened our internal control and monitoring systems. We are also collaborating effectively with Bank of Ghana, the regulator of banks in Ghana, in its initiatives to enhance banking and to avert any disaster in the banking sector," Mr Adu-Mante said.