New South African bank has big problems

As a long-time Old Mutual Money Account user, I was very excited to transfer my account over to the new OM Bank. However, it did not work out as planned.

Upon the bank’s launch to the public, encouraging the switch, I hastily downloaded the app and began the transfer. 

Little did I know that two weeks later, I would be sitting without access to my money on either platform and be asked to provide an alternative account with a separate bank to receive my money.

“We have had some customers who have experienced unexpected delays. We appreciate the anxiety this transfer process may raise in our customers,” OM Bank CEO Clarence Nethengwe said in reply to questions from Daily Investor.

“Our team is continuously monitoring the process, addressing customer challenges as they arise and implementing upgrades that will ensure a smoother process and customer experience.”

“We have experienced some isolated incidents with incoming payments, but these were resolved by our technical teams.”

Unfortunately, as one of those isolated incidents and unfortunate customers, my three to five business day closure and transfer ended up being a 12 business day marathon.

Thankfully, after going through the Money Account closure process twice during this period, I now have access to my money again in my OM Bank account.

On 27 August 2025, I received an email regarding “Important news about your Money Account”, where the launch of OM Bank to the public was confirmed, and I was encouraged to switch to the new bank. 

“Old Mutual’s new banking offering, OM Bank, is now live. As a valued customer, you’re among the first to be eligible to sign up to this new banking offering, ahead of everyone else,” the email read. 

“You can continue using your Money Account as usual until the end of 2026, after which transactions will be disabled.” 

“However, your money will remain secure, and you’ll be able to access your funds by getting in touch with us at any time.” 

As a long-time Money Account customer, happy with the product and excited about the launch of the new bank, I downloaded the OM Bank app in anticipation of the switch. 

That afternoon, I began opening both an OM Bank transactional account and a savings account.

Encouraged to switch my Money Account over and the promise that Old Mutual would take care of everything, I gave permission to Old Mutual Transaction Services to process the closure and transfer of my funds. This was a meaningful amount built up over several years. 

I would not have known that the initial excitement would steadily turn into concern and frustration as a three-to-five business-day process began to take weeks.

In his response to Daily Investor’s queries, CEO Nethengwe did note that, in some instances, the account closure process may take longer than five days.

“For example, if there are pending transactions, active debit orders, or account suspensions. Customers are kept informed every step of the way,” he said.

Closure, reversal, and phone calls

On 28 August, the day after OM Bank confirmed its public launch, I received an SMS from Money Account saying that my account closure was being processed. 

A day later, I received another SMS confirming that the funds in my savings account were being moved to the Money Account swipe account to be transferred.

That afternoon, my funds were transferred out of the Money Account and began making their way over to the newly opened OM Bank account.

I received what I thought would be the final SMS from Money Account, saying that both my Swipe and Save accounts were closed on 29 August 2025.

Surprised by the relatively quick progress, I thought I would have to begin making plans to go to an Old Mutual branch and pick up a new OM Bank card. 

However, on 30 August 2025, I received another SMS from the Money Account saying the funds were reversed back into the Swipe account at 19:00 that day. The available balance was R0.00.

I was not concerned, as Old Mutual had kept me well informed every step of the way about what was happening with my money so far.

On the morning of Monday, 1 September 2025, I opened the new OM Bank app to check the progress of my account closure, which is housed in a drop-down menu on the homepage. 

Under the Closed tab, I was told that the full balance from my Money Account has been successfully moved to my OM Bank account. 

“Your funds will reflect within 24-48 hours,” I was told. “Your Money Account is officially closed.” 

At this point, the last SMS I received about the funds being reversed began to nag at me. However, I decided to wait 24 hours before contacting OM Bank to find out what was going on. Below is the progress tracker available on my OM Bank app as of the time of publication.

Nothing had reflected in my OM Bank account by midday on Tuesday, 2 September 2025, prompting me to set up a call with an agent at the bank.

I received a phone call from an OM Bank “intentioneer” who was very friendly and helpful.

She said she would escalate the issue to the back office after I explained that I had received an SMS stating that the funds had been reversed to the Money Account, which was now closed. 

She also put me through to the Money Account servicing department to see if they could provide me with any clarity. Unfortunately, after waiting on hold for ten minutes, I gave up and returned to work.

The following day, as promised, the OM Bank intentioneer followed up with me to see what the Money Account servicing department had said and let me know that my issue was being investigated. 

As I could not get in contact with the Money Account department, I had nothing to report and was told that my issue had been escalated.

I tried my luck later in the day with another OM Bank intentioneer, who told me that this is normal and advised me to wait until Friday, 5 September, a full week after the closure, before getting concerned and escalating the issue further.

Somewhat frustrated with this answer, I explained that I was beginning to be concerned that I had no access to my money and no idea where it was. It was seemingly floating somewhere between the Money Account and OM Bank. 

I was told there is no chance of me losing my money and that I can rest assured the issue will be sorted. Once again, it was escalated to the back office. 

That afternoon, on 3 September, I reached out to the Money Account servicing department again to see if they could provide clarity. 

This proved unhelpful, as I was told once again that my issue was being escalated for investigation, just this time on the Money Account side.

In the evening of 3 September 2025, I reached out to another OM Bank intentioneer using the app’s chat function. Given a third, new intentioneer, I began to make some progress.

After explaining my issue in full over text, this intentioneer proved far more helpful. I was told that she could see the payment of the funds had been declined.

There had seemingly been an issue transferring the funds from the Money Account to the OM Bank account. After an apology, I was told that my matter was being investigated and that I would be contacted when there was feedback.

I am yet to be contacted by this intentioneer in the eight days since this chat. Below are two snippets of my chat with one of OM Bank’s intentioneers confirming the payment of the funds was declined.

On Thursday, 4 September, I reached out once again to the Money Account servicing department, having been told OM Bank would reach out to me with any developments. 

This proved much more fruitful as the department gave me reference numbers so that I did not have to explain my issue each time I got fresh assistance.

As my frustration grew, I asked how I could access my money. Whether that was in the Money Account or OM Bank, I did not mind.

This time around, I was told the payment from the Money Account to OM Bank was declined and had returned to my Money Account. This is essentially what the SMS had told me five days prior.

After asking how I could access these funds, I was once again told it was under investigation with Money Account’s back office and would be escalated. The funds were effectively sitting in a closed account that I could no longer access.

That evening, I contacted OM Bank via the app once more to find out if anything had happened with the investigation on their side.

I was told that they would contact me when there were any developments, and they assured me that they would speak to their manager and the Money Account team to find out what was going on.

Over a week later, I am yet to hear back from this intentioneer who promptly ended the chat after apologising and assuring me that she would do something about my issue. 

On Friday, 5 September 2025, the tale took another turn. I phoned the Money Account service department in the morning and was informed that the funds were already in my account. 

I explained that I couldn’t access this account because it was closed. Any attempt to get into the app was met with an error, telling me to go to a branch or contact the help centre. 

The service department told me that I could try to access the funds by reactivating my Money Account. 

After failing to reactivate my old card, I was told that I could go to a branch to get a new card and access my account through the Money Account app.

The branch 

On Friday afternoon, I left work early to venture to an Old Mutual branch at a nearby shopping centre, where I was met with friendly faces and hopeful for progress. 

I was going to go through the process of being issued a new card to access the Money Account app and my funds.

What sounds simple in theory did not occur in practice, with the person assisting me saying they would now have to phone the Money Account help centre as my account could not be reactivated. 

They explained that they cannot reactivate the account, as, with the launch of OM Bank, they are not opening or activating any new Money Account accounts, even though it was not a new account.

However, I was given a new case number and told to contact the Money Account team for any progress on the case in future. 

I was also given an OM Bank card, which was linked to my account. The only problem was that the account had no money in it, as it was sitting in a closed Money Account. I left with a case number and a piece of plastic.

With only half an hour left before the Money Account servicing department closed for the day, I quickly phoned the call centre. This is where things became even fuzzier but much more honest.

After providing my case number, I was informed that OM Bank was experiencing difficulties in receiving payments. This was the first time, in a week of calling both OM Bank and the Money Account team, that I was informed of such an issue.

I was now told to email the Money Account support team with a copy of my ID and banking details for an alternative account to which the money should be sent. 

Taken aback, I double-checked to be sure that I was supposed to ask Old Mutual to send my money, not to its shiny new OM Bank, but to an existing bank account I held with another institution because the new bank could not receive payments. 

Yes, that was what I was being asked to do, the assistant confirmed. She promptly rattled off the names of the biggest banks in the country to help me understand. 

Before the Money Account support centre closed at 17:00 for the day, I quickly emailed a copy of my ID and Standard Bank account details to the given email address to ask for the funds to be transferred there.

I felt like I was making progress. If I could access the money in the OM Bank account, the Money Account, or now the Standard Bank account, I would not mind. I just wanted access to my money.

On Monday, 8 September 2025, I received an email confirming the receipt of the Standard Bank details and that the case had been escalated for payment. So far, so good. 

That afternoon, I followed up to see if there had been any progress on the case. I was told that it was sitting with the relevant division and would take one to two business days to be processed.

A day later, on 9 September 2025, I called the Money Account help centre again for an update. After being reassured that I would be contacted if there was any progress, I was informed that it was still being processed.

At this point, this was no longer good enough. Later that afternoon, I phoned the Money Account help centre again and explained that I just wanted access to my money and some clarity as to when I could expect that.

This time, I was escalated to a manager for assistance. After being asked if I had been to a branch for help, I decided to give him the full story of the past ten days. 

I told him that I do not care if I could access my money through OM Bank, the Money Account, the Standard Bank account, or if I had to collect it in R2 coins from a branch – I just wanted access to my money.

He calmly told me that he understood and would reach out directly to the back office for clarity on my case, saying that, as the service department, they have minimal information to share. 

When he phoned me back after half an hour, I was told that the issue was being resolved and the back office would contact me regarding my account. 

The manager explained that the issue causing the payment to be declined, which occurred over ten days ago, was understood and addressed. Money Account would proceed with another closure of my account and transfer the funds to OM Bank.

On Wednesday, 10 September 2025, I received an SMS saying that the closure of my Money Account is being processed, for the second time.

The Money Account service department gave me a courtesy call on Friday, 12 September 2025, to confirm that the closure is being processed and the funds will reflect in my OM Bank account in the coming days.

This is the last communication I have received from either the Money Account team or OM Bank, with the bank failing to contact me for the entire past week. 

Two weeks after the closure of my Money Account for the first time, I finally received access to my funds after a second closure process. The money was successfully transferred into my OM Bank account on 13 September.