Merger with Raiffeisen leaves many Czech Equa bank clients unhappy

The merger of Equa Bank with Raiffeisenbank is causing headaches to Equa Bank clients, Novinky reports. Raiffeisen transferred all of them to its system during the weekend. However, for individual account transfers to be completed, the clients had to activate their banking services either on the Raiffeisenbank website, or through its app, under the guidance of a wizard.

This has proved easier said than done for many people. As a result, disgruntled clients have been flooding the helpline of Raiffeisenbank with requests since Monday morning, with people reporting waiting times of up to an hour. Online banking has also been harder to access due to the larger number of requests, with representatives of Raiffeisen warning that the problems are likely to persist in the coming days.

One of these issues, Peníze.cz reports, was the change from a daily to a weekly limit, which left some people without enough funds in their current accounts.

While the transfer of services was automatic, the main change for Equa Bank clients are the different bank codes. Raiffeisenbank said that, from Nov. 14, clients can start using the new bank code 5500. "For six months, both the original bank code 6100 and the new bank code 5500 will be valid at the same time" the bank added.

"Domestic payments and direct debits will be routed to the original bank code 6100, valid until 15 May 2023," added a spokesperson. Additionally, Raiffeisenbank agreed with the Czech Social Security Administration and the Labor Office of the Czech Republic on an automatic change allowing for the automatic transfer of pensions, various social benefits or contributions to social insurance without any action required from account owners.

The transfer of investment products from Equa bank started this week, and is scheduled to end later on. "Transfers of share certificates to Raiffeisenbank will be implemented gradually from Nov. 14," the bank said, and warned that some mutual funds might not show up in the banking overview. "You will receive an SMS once your entire investment portfolio has been transferred."

Some of the bank users wrote on Facebook that the transfer went smoothly for them, while others complained about the look and feel of Raiffeisen's online banking, which they said was harder to use and less streamlined than that of Equa Bank.