The island’s commercial banks have announced the temporary closure of some of their branches as a result of the seven-day lockdown of St Catherine.
The lockdown, which takes effect on Wednesday, April 15 through to Wednesday, April 22, is aimed at stemming the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19).
Jamaica has 105 coronavirus cases of the coronavirus to date, with 36 cases in St Catherine.
One of the banks, National Commercial Bank (NCB) will close four branches in Kingston, in addition to offices in St Catherine.
NCB said it is closing branches in Kingston because a significant number of its staff reside in St Catherine.
Other banks, namely Jamaica National, Scotiabank and JMMB, have announced the immediate closures of their branches in St Catherine.
For its part, Scotiabank said the lockdown will not only affect locations in St Catherine but also branches in Kingston as well as contact centre and head office operations due to the number of staff who reside in the affected parish.
All the banks have indicated that the lockdown will affect other services including contact centre, deposits made at ATMs and servicing of point of sale machines.
Below is a breakdown of the branch closures and affected services by banks:
NCB branch closures in Kingston and St Catherine
Cross Roads
Half-Way Tree
Linstead
Old Harbour
Portmore
St. Jago
Washington Boulevard
Windward Road
Impacted services for NCB
Customer Care Centre
Cheque deposits at intelligent ABMs
Servicing of Point of Sale terminals
JMMB closure in St Catherine:
JMMB Group has temporarily ceased operations at its Portmore location, which offers the full suite of services – banking, investments, money transfer and insurance.
JMMB Group’s other islandwide locations remain open on Mondays to Fridays, between the hours of 8.30 am and 1 pm, with the exception of its Junction branch, which remains temporarily closed as well, with those clients being served out of the Santa Cruz branch.
Impacted services for JMMB:
Client Care (call) Centre
Deposits made at its ATMs
Jamaica National branch closures in St Catherine:
Old Harbour
Spanish Town
Portmore Pines
Linstead
All other locations will remain open from 9 am to 1.30 pm.
JN’s Saturday banking locations, except those in St Catherine, will continue to offer services from 10 am to 1 pm. The bank’s Gayle and Annotto Bay locations in St. Mary will open 9 am to 4 pm Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
Scotiabank branch closures in St Catherine:
Linstead
Old Harbour
Portmore
Spanish Town
Impacted services for Scotiabank:
ABM availability at St Catherine locations
Contact Centre
Contact centre service will be significantly impacted by the new curfew measures, anticipate delays in accessing customer care agents.
Additionally, during the lockdown period, Scotia will only be able to offer assistance for critical calls including those related to online and mobile banking as well as lost or stolen cards between 8 am and 6 pm. Thereafter, only emergency calls related to lost or stolen cards can be accommodated.
In the meantime, the St Ann’s Bay location, which was previously scheduled to be closed at this time will remain open to facilitate customers.
All other temporarily closed branches will still accommodate night depository services and limited appointments. ABMs at these branches will also be available for use.
The financial institutions are encouraging customers to utilise digital channels to manage their financial affairs.