14 DAY TRIAL // First National Bank, one of the big four banks in South Africa, has started notifying customers that it’s ending support for Internet Explorer 8, in a move to keep everyone secure and avoid any security breaches that might occur due to unsupported software.
In a statement sent to customers this week, FNB is warning that Internet Explorer 8 can no longer be used to access bank services, such as online banking, due to the new restriction, and recommended them to update to a newer version of Internet Explorer or use a different browser.
“We are phasing out Internet Explorer 8 in September of this year. If you’re still using this outdated browser, you’ll no longer be able to access the FNB website or login to your banking profile. We therefore recommend that you upgrade to the most recent version,” FNB said.
In a FAQ posted on the FNB official website, the bank goes on to explain that Internet Explorer 8 does not allow the company to develop further technologies that could help the bank improve the services it offers to customers, and it therefore decided to pull the plug on this particular browser.
“FNB cannot be restricted by the limitations Internet Explorer 8 imposes on our ability to develop a world class Online Banking system. To this end we recommend that if you use Windows XP you download Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox to operate our solution effectively. Windows Vista and Windows 7 Users can upgrade to Internet Explorer 9, 10 or 11. Windows 8 users can upgrade to Internet Explorer 11, the bank explained, recommending customers to update their browsers.”
Internet Explorer was also running on Windows XP and FNB says that while everyone can continue using the 13-year-old operating system, whose support also ended on April 8, Internet Explorer 8 is officially unsupported, so its services can no longer be accessed with this browser.
“Our policy is to support the latest three versions of the browser, which are now versions 9, 10 and 11. We will continue to support Windows XP use but cannot allow access through Internet Explorer and therefore encourage you to make use of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox for a better online user experience,” FNB continued.
According to statistics provided by market research Net Applications, Internet Explorer 8 is currently the world’s number one browser with a share of 21.25 percent, followed by the newly-launched Internet Explorer 11 with 17.01 percent. IE11, however, is only available on Windows 7 and 8.1 computers.