ABSA Group Limited has completed migrating the banking platform used by the Zambian customers and others in five of its African subsidiaries to its data centre in South Africa from the United Kingdom.

Other African subsidiaries are in Botswana, Ghana, Mauritius, Tanzania and Seychelles.

Absa Group engineering services chief executive officer, Paul O’Flaherty, explained that the development was part of the group’s separation from Barclays Plc.

The migration, he said, unlocked a number of benefits including an upgrade of the bank’s hardware infrastructure, enhanced resilience and preparation of systems in line with Absa’s Application Programming Interface strategy.

The migration took place during 12 to 14 April, 2019. Mr O’Flaherty said this in a statement issued by the Barclays Bank Zambia communication team.

“The successful completion of the project, which was large and complex and one of our key Platinum projects, is another significant milestone in Absa’s separation from Barclays, due for completion in June 2020.

“During the migration, which is part of Absa Group’s separation from Barclays PLC, banking services were temporarily unavailable but customers had been informed in advance so they could make alternative arrangements,” he said.

Mr O’Flaherty said normal operations resumed on Monday this week with all branches open and all digital channels and Automated Teller Machines services fully restored.

This development, he said, demonstrated Absa’s commitment and capability in ensuring an orderly separation.