Banks in the Czech Republic are shutting their doors whever possible in order to limit potential exposure to coronavirus of their employees. It’s a move made dramatically less problematic by the Internet, since the majority of what consumers need to do at the bank is already done online anyway. But it’s still a powerful symbol of how seriously the health scare is cutting into daily life. Česká spořitelna decided to leave just 280 of its 502 branch offices open, most of which are in regional centers and their surroundings. “The remainder will remain closed temporarily,” the bank’s spokeman Filip Hrubý told aktualne.cz. “In the course of the coronavirus pandemic we’re trying to minimize the level of social contact at our branches and offices. At the same time, the effect of the quarantine measures is forcing us to continually conserve more of our human resources to ensure that we’re able to secure an appropriate level of services.”
Hrubý added that banks have a legal responsibility to maintain the ability to ensure financial transactions can continue to take place during a crisis, meaning that some branch offices will always have to remain open.
Aktualne.cz reports that Komerční banka has closed down just 69 of its 331 branches but it’s appealed to its clients to visit them only when necessary for procedures that can’t be done later. ČSOB has reduced the opening hours at its branches from 9 am until 4 p.m. and on Fridays they will close an hour earlier. Moneta Money Bank has closed 26 of its 180 branches but its spokeswoman said that if the crisis deepened it would guarantee that 16 of its key offices would remain open to the public.
