Commercial banks cut back on opening hours due to COVID-19

Last Updated on Monday, 23 March 2020, 21:24 by Writer

Banks in Guyana will from Tuesday March 24, adjust their banking hours to customers as one measure to combat the spread of the coronavirus (Covid-19) in Guyana.

A Bank of Guyana (BOG) spokeswoman told News Talk Radio Guyana that the Guyana Bankers Association came up with the initiative and sought the approval of BOG to which the central bank gave approval.

As a precautionary measure to protect staff and customers from the spread of Covid-19, the central bank agrees that effective Monday, March 23 to Friday, April 3, 2020, banks will be open to the public from 8:00am to 12:00 noon.

This means that banks will be cutting back their time to the public by 2 hours from Monday to Thursday and 2.5 hours on Friday.

Customers are urged to use available online services to access their accounts or conduct transactions. The banks are also encouraging the use of the automated teller machine (ATM) as an alternative to avoid large groups at once in the banks.

The bankers’ association advisory says the measure is temporary and may be extended based on a further advisory on the Covid-19 pandemic from the Ministry of Public Health.

The new opening hours — 8 am to Noon — applies to Republic Bank, Scotiabank, Citizens Bank, GBTI, Demerara Bank, NBS, Hand-in-Hand Trust, Bank of Baroda and Guyana Americas Merchant Bank.