Alcohol wipes to the rescue as banks conduct business as usual

Banks say they are taking precautionary measures to deal with the coronavirus pandemic - but some staff say nothing or little is being done.

“Absa has implemented a number of interventions across all Absa offices, including branches, to ensure the safety of our employees and customers,” said spokesperson Songezo Zibi.

He said the bank would use alcohol swabs to wipe all biometric readers before any transaction or customer interaction.

“We have also ensured that employees understand procedures outlined by health authorities, increased the cleaning regime of our premises (including desks and keyboards) and have intensified employee awareness around hygiene,” said Zibi.

Capitec spokesperson Chandre Matlala said the bank had issued a directive to all branches to use wipes before interacting with customers.

“We have issued alcohol wipes to all branches and areas that use fingerprint biometrics. Your safety is our top priority and the fingerprint reader will be sanitised each time after use by a client,” said Matlala.

However, a Capitec employee, who did not want to be named, told TimesLIVE there were no wipes at their branch and management had only sent them newsletters with information about the virus.

“Since the pandemic outbreak, nothing has changed at Capitec. It is business as usual. There were newsletters shared to staff members that basically just made us aware of the outbreak,” said the employee.

He said while staff were told hygiene would be improved at the branch, no action had yet been taken.

“As staff, we work at close quarters. Our branch isn't very spacious and we serve 150-plus clients a day. Our systems and branch operations, such as our biometric fingerprint reader that both the client and service consultants have to make use of after every contract agreement, are not sanitised,” said the employee.

Matlala said there might be delays with receipt of wipes as some branches were further away than others.

“However, each branch manager has been provided with a budget to purchase hand sanitisers that they are able to use in the place of wipes in the interim,” Matlala said.