• People’s safety is paramount in this time of crisis
• The pandemic has put pressure on banks’ profitability and changed consumers’ behaviour, two factors that will have long-term effects on the industry as a whole
• Banks worldwide will play a vital role in the economy’s recovery

The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented crisis and its extent is still evolving. Without any prior experience and with many unanswered questions about it, the epidemic is a major challenge for everyone. In a crisis of such magnitude, it is essential to put the safety of people – both employees and customers – as the absolute priority.

Putting people’s safety first

From the very early days of the pandemic, we have collaborated with the Ministry of Public Health and the Hamad Medical Corporation to raise awareness on how individuals can protect themselves and act responsibly for the benefit of their communities. We have made heavy use of our own channels to promote key awareness messages to our entire customer base across the country, including a campaign urging the use of our mobile and online platforms to fulfil daily banking needs remotely.

For our employees’ safety, we have maximised the number of staff working from home. By doing so, we have created the right social distancing environment for employees who, due to the nature of their responsibilities, are still required to work from office – a percentage less than 20% of our workforce. Frequent sanitising and deep cleaning of all bank premises, including operating branches and ATMs, have also been introduced.

Our bank has continuously invested in upgrading our digital channels and call centre capabilities to ensure customers can perform transactions without the need to visit a branch. This has allowed us to significantly decrease the number of our operating branches during this period and migrate almost all transactions and appl...

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