Even once resolved, UNI's technical issues may lead to client distrust, says prof

UNI Financial Cooperation'sonline banking system is causing problems for customersfor thesecond week in a row.

With many clients unable to deposit cheques or access their accounts online, one expert says the bank may face serious repercussions even after the technological problemsare resolved.

"Technical and technological issues happen. Now this is on a bigger scale because this is people's livelihoods," said Omar Fares, lecturer on retail management at Toronto Metropolitan University.

"Given the trajectory of where things are going, there may be a hit on UNI and customers' trust will take time [to rebuild]."

The Acadian bank has been experiencingtechnical challenges since separatingfrom Desjardins Group to launch its own online banking platform. Some customers discovered their most recent pay didn't arrive in their accounts, something UNI described in an update Sunday as "payroll deferral."

UNICEO Robert Moreau said some crucialimprovements will be made as quickly as possible, such as making it possible to make a bill payment at an ATM.

"I can assure you that we will work tirelessly, 24 hours a day, to correct these irritants," said Moreau.

Despite the technical challenges, 68,000 people have registeredan online profile with the bank.

Fares said this does not come as a surprise.

Credit unions a community

"With a credit union,there is such a community focus so clients are in a sense a little bit more forgiving than traditional banking institutions."

However, Fares said UNI should be giving customers daily updates to avoid further frustrations and distrust.

"Your customers will make assumptions, right?" Fares said. "'Why did the system drop?' 'Was there any data leakage?' These are issues if the bank does not bring up proactively, it will be in terms brought up from the customer side."

Fares said once UNI's online banking platform is finally up and running, the bank will have to try to make up for frustrations their clients experienced.

"It takes a very long time to build trust and we've seen it takes a few days and a technological issue to destroy the trust," said Fares.