Banks face pressure as roster duty resumes

Most of the bank branches are facing huge pressure as they have resumed roster duties to comply with the central bank’s instructions aimed at tackling the third wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

The central bank on January 24 asked banks to run operations with 50 per cent of employees and introduce alternate duty rosters.

This correspondent visited a number of bank branches in the capital’s Motijheel area on Wednesday and noticed that a few bankers were providing banking services for a large number of clients, facing an increased workload.

“We resumed the alternate duty roster on January 24 as per the central bank’s instruction,” said Mohammad Quamruzzaman, assistant general manager of Rupali Bank’s Motijheel corporate branch.

He said it was very difficult to run operations with half of the employees and was not possible to provide banking services smoothly as public gatherings had not been restricted.

Operation Manager of Global Islami Bank’s Motijheel branch AFM Humayun Reza said the staff had been asked to stay home if they felt unwell.

However, the presence of employees was high at Exim Bank’s Motijheel branch. Its Additional Deputy Managing Director Md Shahidur Rahman said this was because the branch provides export-import related services.

The Bangladesh Bank had said banks could decide to set the number of employees as per their requirements to provide the essential banking services.

The staff will have to stay in their respective working areas while they are not doing office in person, according to a central bank notice. It also said banking activities could be managed through virtual platforms.

Besides, clients will have to wear facemasks mandatorily while receiving banking services. The central bank gave the instructions as per the decision made by the government.