Banks in Egypt began sending messages to their customers regarding online banking and money transfers starting on Thursday, which marks the beginning of Daylight Saving Time in Egypt, according to the Pulse Mubasher website.
Egyptians will set their clocks forward by 60 minutes at midnight on Thursday, to coincide with the start of Daylight Saving Time, which will last until October 28.
The Commercial International Bank Egypt (CIB) sent a message to its customers stating that it will start operating on Daylight Saving Time on Friday, April 26.
Therefore, the bank will update its systems to match the time change, which will result in the temporary unavailability of all banking services on Friday, April 26 from 1:00-4:00 am.
The CIB also advised to make sure that all devices are working according to the new correct time and before performing any bank transactions related to the variable One Time Password (OTP).
Users on social media have wondered about the impact on online bank transactions and money transfers during the time change, with multiple users advising to avoid any online financial transactions, especially between 11:00 pm and 2:00 am on Friday, due to Daylight Saving Time.
Tech experts weigh in
Technology experts have recommended that any transactions in this period should be avoided unless absolutely necessary, due to a heightened risk of malfunctions in financial transfer systems.
This varies depending on the specific mechanism of operation of each system, which differs from company to company.
No matter how prepared companies are, problems can still occur either due to adjusting the transfer system, loading server issues which involve the operating system of each company, and even mistakes done during testing such as recording the date of the transfer operation twice instead of once due to the time difference or mislabeling the day.
According to experts, even a single second off can cause a huge problem as calculations are done every second.
The technology experts also pointed out that the period which poses a major problem in these operations are the 60 minutes that fall between 12:00-1:00 am.
Therefore, it is advised to avoid making any transfers during this period, as there are endless possibilities for a malfunction to occur.
