Banks ask for patience as they move to reopen St Catherine branches
Published:Thursday | April 23, 2020 | 5:37 PMKarena Bennett - Business Reporter
Financial institutions across St Catherine reopen their doors to the public on Friday, but have warned that clients may experience delays in accessing in-branch, ABM and even call-centre services.
Business reopened in the parish on Wednesday, but banks remained closed, giving themselves another day to prepare to serve clients, during a partial lifting of the parish lockdown to contain the COVID-19 spread. They were weighing which staff would be working in branch and those remotely, as well as which branches would reopen to the public for in-branch services.
At least three banks, Scotiabank, National Commercial Bank and JN Bank, have cut in-branch staff in the parish.
In St Catherine, as well as nationally, the nation’s banks, which have been pushing their digital services and cashless transactions over the years, have now ramped up that campaign, getting clients to warm to what may become a new normal for how banking services are delivered to Jamaicans.
Still, provisions are being made for those not yet in favour of banking apps, online banking and card transactions.
“We have 33 ABMs in the parish which gives our customer several options to access cash. Our ABMs will be serviced throughout the quarantine period once movement is permitted. While we will make every effort to replenish ABMs quickly, we do anticipate some impact on availability while the lockdown is in effect,” Executive Vice President of Retail Banking at Scotiabank, Audrey Tugwell-Henry told the Financial Gleaner.
NCB on the other hand, says it would be smooth sailing for its ATM service for St Catherine, but that its greatest challenge may come from handling customer queries at its call centre.
“The call centre has been receiving higher than usual call volumes as customer move to migrate to our electronic channels. Unfortunately at the same time our support team has been significantly impacted by the COVID-19 restrictions and as a result our customers are experiencing extended wait times,” said Head of Non-Branch and Channels at NCB, Danielle Cameron Duncan.
The banks have been asking customers to not just exercise patience during this time, but that as much possible, use ABMs, online banking services, and the mobile app which are available 24/7 for routine and non-internet banking related queries.
NCB has removed fees on automated clearing house and real-time gross settlement services until April 30 and will NCB customers use of ATMs without charge. Meanwhile, Scotiabank recently launched a new mobile app and enhanced ABMs with additional features, and JMMB has bolstered it online platform, Moneyline, to allow self-registration for clients. The typical online banking platform allows customers to pay bills, monitor accounts, wire transfer, buy and sell stocks, generate statements, among other transactions.
"The company has sought to roll-out a range of measures in keeping with its business continuity plan to provide clients with the best possible service, even as we invite our clients to exercise patience and understanding, as there will be unavoidable delay in service delivery due to reduced operating hours – resulting from Government-mandated expansion of the national curfew hours,” said JMMB General Manager of Investment Client Partnership, Fornia Young.
The heightened restrictions on St Catherine took effect Wednesday, April 15 and ran initially for one week ending Tuesday, April 22, following a 44 per cent spike in coronavirus cases in Jamaica, most of which were related to the Alorica call centre in Portmore, St Catherine.
The order resulted in a halt in all business operations, with the only exception being for persons to get medication, make emergency visits to the doctor, or to get essentials such as food on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
Prime Minister Andrew Holness has since reviewed the curfew orders for St Catherine, allowing some businesses to reopen their door to the public effective on designated shopping days, for a period of 14 days from Wednesday, April 22.
Under the order, exempt businesses – supermarkets, corner shops, gas stations, pharmacies, banks, credit unions and remittance services, post offices, businesses involved in the production of food, beverages, pharmaceuticals and sanitation products and agricultural processing, and BPOs providing support to Jamaica’s essential services – can open to the public during the hours 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. but all other businesses must stay closed.
The banks in St Catherine will reopen for in-branch services on Friday, April 24, and will thereafter open on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays over the 14-day period, during the hours of 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.