JPMorgan Chase closes approximately one-fifth of its bank branches to help to stop the spread of COVID-19.
It will shutter about 1,000 Chase bank locations temporarily, according to a memo sent to employees last Wednesday. The other roughly 4,000 branches will significantly reduce their operating hours since last Thursday.
The employees are still going to get paid their regular salary regardless of branches closing or reducing hours.
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The bank also announced their workers two extra days off and reduced their dress code so staff can wear sneakers and T-shirts. Home-lending advisers, financial advisers and small-business bankers were due to start working from home on Thursday.
JP Morgan Chase is offering free meals to employees of the community and consumer banking division who work in offices where there is an on-site cafeteria and free lunch on Thursdays for branch employees.
Thasunda Duckett, chief executive officer of Chase Consumer Banking, said that the bank is balancing “the fact that we are essential to the communities we serve” with the need to protect their workers.
“We are doing everything we can to step up for our country, our customers and for all of you,” Duckett wrote in the memo.
Chase is also improving the cleaning at branches and will organize a specialized cleaning team to a branch within an hour if they report a “confirmed or highly likely COVID-19 case,” according to the memo.
Other US banks are about to take similar drastic actions.
Sources: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-jpmorgan-coronavirus-branches/jpmorgan-chase-to-close-1000-chase-branches-on-coronavirus-concerns-idUSKBN2153OY https://nypost.com/2020/03/19/chase-to-temporarily-close-1000-branches-over-coronavirus-concerns/ https://www.pymnts.com/coronavirus/2020/jpmorgan-first-big-bank-to-shutter-branches-as-coronavirus-spreads/
