VeloBank completes migration of 500,000 Citi Handlowy clients, but login failures persist before late-afternoon fix

A weekend of system migration

VeloBank took over the retail operations of Citi Handlowy over the weekend of 13–14 June 2026, migrating roughly 500,000 individual accounts during a planned technical break. The bank had projected a seamless transition; CEO Adam Marciniak told WNP a few days earlier that the institution was fully prepared for the integration of the retail banking business carved out from Citi Handlowy.

“We are ready to begin the process of integrating the retail banking carved out from Citi Handlowy.”

Monday morning chaos

When clients tried to log in on Monday 15 June, the reality was far from seamless. Many reported that after using their old Citi credentials they were redirected to VeloBank, received a confirmation of successful migration, but were then blocked. Their previous passwords were rejected for not meeting VeloBank’s stricter security requirements, yet the system offered no chance to create new ones.

“We were sold as customers without any prior consultation. We only received a message saying the migration would take place on Saturday and Sunday, June 13 and 14. It’s Monday June 15, and instead of being resolved, the situation seems to be getting worse.”

Customer anger and call centre overload

Social‑media posts and reports to newsrooms painted a picture of frustration. Some accounts were automatically locked after a few failed login attempts. The helpline was reachable only after long waits, and several clients said consultants told them to visit a branch because the internal system was down and they could not log the complaint. One customer told Business Insider it felt like “being cut off from my own money.”

“I should have taken my money out of Citibank before the migration to VeloBank. This is a complete failure.”

Bank’s response and evening fix

VeloBank initially stated that cards, ATMs and branch services were working normally, while asking for patience. Shortly before 19:00 the bank announced the main migration work was completed and login access had been restored. The bank apologised but did not explain the root cause of the hours‑long outage.

“We have completed the main work related to client migration to VeloBank. The ability to log into the app and internet banking has been restored. We apologise for the difficulties – we are making every effort to ensure everything works correctly and without disruptions.”