Bank Branches Use Drive-Thrus, Limited Hours to Cope With Virus
Bank Branches Use Drive-Thrus, Limited Hours to Cope With Virus
(Bloomberg) -- Bank branches across the U.S. are asking customers to stay in their cars or make appointments before coming in to help fight the spread of the highly contagious coronavirus.
“We’re seeing a trend to go to drive-thru only for the safety of the customer and the bank employee as well,” said Richard Hunt, chief executive officer of the Consumer Bankers Association, which supports the retail-banking divisions of companies including JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp., Wells Fargo & Co. and smaller regional banks. Almost all branches have so far remained open, he said.
Some banks without drive-thru facilities have implemented appointment-only services to limit the number of customers in a branch at any one time, Hunt said. So far, the measures have been taken in regions including California, Louisiana, Georgia and New Rochelle, New York, where the virus is especially prevalent, he said. States including California and New York have ordered the closing of restaurants, movie theaters, bars and other businesses where people congregate.
Capital One Financial Corp. closed its cafes across the country starting on Monday, and said it would also shut some branches. For locations that remain open, Capital One will primarily serve customers from behind protective glass or using drive-thrus, according to its website.
JPMorgan said in a Twitter post Tuesday that it would limit its weekday branch hours to 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., about three hours shorter than usual. The company told staff it plans to offer 14 days of paid leave for high-risk individuals whose roles do not allow them to work from home, such as branch and call-center employees, according to an internal memo Friday.
Some branches are also closing during certain hours to sanitize because cleaning services are in high demand and banks have to adjust to whatever time windows they’re available, Hunt said.
As of Tuesday, 99.2% of branches that the Consumer Bankers Association works with remained open in some way, Hunt said. Whether more banks shut down completely “all depends on the spread of the coronavirus,” he said.
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