With the new situation established in the country due to the coronavirus pandemic, measures are being analyzed to avoid crowds at bank branches.
On Monday (23), the Brazilian Central Bank published in the Official Gazette (DOU), a resolution giving permission for all financial institutions to make changes to their services at their bank branches. The change will last as long as the pandemic continues.
The changes were defined last Friday (19) at a meeting of the Central Bank's Board of Directors. They will last as long as the pandemic continues.
The Federal Government is analyzing measures to prevent crowds from gathering at bank branches as the coronavirus pandemic spreads across the country. Guidance is being provided to businesses.
Thus, it is already in effect. According to the text, the measure aims to guarantee the provision of essential services to the population.
“Having ensured the provision of essential services to the population, financial institutions and other institutions authorized to operate by the Central Bank of Brazil must adjust their opening hours for the public while the public health risk situation resulting from the new Coronavirus (Covid-19) persists in the country,” the resolution states.
Changes
One of the changes defined in the publication of the resolution is the need for banks to communicate to their customers all changes in opening hours at least thirty days in advance.
The current guidance is that communication should be conducted through customer channels, such as apps and websites. The Central Bank has also mandated that institutions post notices of these changes in a visible location in their branches.
These notices must inform customers about the limitations on the number of people inside the agency, as well as the public who have priority access to these physical spaces of the institutions.
Another published determination is that the text is about agencies no longer having the obligation to comply with their minimum business hours for the public, which until then were five hours a day continuously.
The need for mandatory attendance between 12pm and 3pm is also being eliminated.