Banks shorten operating hours due to rising COVID-19 cases
MANILA, Philippines — Several banking companies put out advisories of shortened hours due to the continued rise in COVID-19 cases in the country.
In an advisory, HSBC said its branches will operate from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. starting Jan. 10. HSBC Savings Bank Rockwell Branch, however, will be temporarily closed until further notice.
Banco de Oro or BDO, and the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) also announced shortened hours in all its branches starting Jan. 10, and will operate only until 3 p.m.
Security Bank likewise announced shortened hours from Jan. 10 to Jan. 14, with branches only staying open until 3 p.m.
Regularly updated list of open branches, meanwhile, are available on its website www.securitybank.com list of open branches.
The Philippine National Bank also announced shortened banking hours from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. starting Jan. 10.
List of open branches can also be seen on their website www.pnb.com.ph list of open branches.
Metrobank, on the other hand, had already said it had shortened banking hours (9 a.m. to 3 p.m.) nationwide since Jan. 7 and is set to last until Jan. 14.
However, the bank said that local community measures may cause branch banking hours and cut-off times to be adjusted without prior notice.
Branch schedules are regularly updated on its official website www.metrobank.com.ph bank schedule.
EastWest bank, meanwhile, said that its branches in NCR and Rizal will have shortened banking hours from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. starting on Jan. 11 until Jan. 14.
The rest of its banks nationwide will remain open until 5 p.m. Mondays to Fridays, except branches that have closed our shortened banking hours due to quarantine guidelines, severe weather or local holidays.
The list of affected branches are also updated on its official website daily www.eastwestbanker.com advisories.
Metro Manila is currently under alert level 3 following the surge of COVID-19 cases in the country as well as the rise in carriers of the Omicron COVID-19 variant of concern, which is feared to be more transmissible than even the Delta variant.
COVID-19 cases in the country, on the other hand, continue to rise exponentially with the health department earlier reporting another all-time high of daily new cases at 33,169.
Active infections nationwide currently number 157,526, and the confirmed total at 2,998,530.
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