MAJORITY of banks in Davao City have noted a decline in foot traffic since the implementation of the community quarantine and their shortened banking hours.
Dabaw City Bankers Association, Inc. (DCBAI), president Raymond Nonato said the banks have reported a reduced volume of clients doing over-the-counter transactions by an average of 40 to 60 percent.
“Yung ibang banks nag drop ng 50 to 60 percent. Sa amin, 30 to 50 percent ang nag drop (The volume of people in other banks has dropped by 50 to 60 percent. In our bank, the drop is about 30 to 50 percent),” he said. Nonato is also the branch manager of Philippine Business Bank.
“Tumaas po yung online services especially those banks who are offering existing e-banking channels and facilities. E-banking channels are the likes of fund transfers or bills payment kadalasan (Most of the people have used the online services offered by the banks. People used the existing e-banking channels of their respective banks for fund transfers or bills payments),” Nonato added.
He further noted that the reduced volume of people inside the banks means that people are so far cooperative with the guidelines.
In the DCBAI Board Resolution No. 2020-004, the member banks have agreed to shorten their banking hours to only until 2:00 p.m. On a regular basis, banks are only open until 4 p.m.
“We determined kung ano talaga ang nangyayari dito sa atin especially tayo nasa community quarantine, yung resolution namin is also aligned with the [guidelines of the] City Government,” he said.
He said the measure was also to protect their bank tellers.
In the resolution, the association, which has around 36 member-banks, urged their clients to use all available digital channels like the Automated Teller Machine (ATM), online banking, and mobile applications.
“Kung mga updating lang ng mga records, we discourage na to come here dito sa banks. As much as possible, we let them call us through phone, or sa mga managers kung meron silang access sa amin,” he said.
“Yung iba, hindi na sila nag aaccept ng bills payment especially pag non-clients nila to avoid foot traffic doon sa loob ng banko rin nila. Ang sine-service lang nila is ‘yung mga clients lang nila and those people who really need to withdraw cash especially ‘yung malakihan,” he added.
In a separate advisory, DCBAI also advised the public to wear masks inside the banks and banned customers with fever and with body temperature of 37 degree celsius and higher.
Meanwhile, banks and ATMs are still exempted from the closure based on the Executive Order No. 20 series of 2020 issued by the City Government of Davao on March 23, 2020.