The Bangladesh Bank has ordered commercial banks to allow transactions for three and a half hours daily during a strict lockdown over the coronavirus outbreak starting on Thursday.
Besides weekly holidays of Friday and Saturday, and national holidays, banks will remain closed on Sundays during the lockdown. Jul 1 (Thursday) is the bank holiday in Bangladesh. That means customers will have to wait until Monday for the next banking day, reports bdnews24.com.
The banks will remain open for transactions from 10 am to 1:30 pm when banks are open during the lockdown, the central bank said in a notice on Wednesday. The lenders will have until 3 pm to complete post-transaction activities.
The relevant departments of the headquarters must remain open with a limited workforce.
The state-owned banks will keep one branch open in each district town.
All banks must keep card and internet banking services open nonstop, and ATMs full of cash.
Rezaul Karim, a spokesman for the stock market regulator BSEC, said trading will continue on the market from 10 am to 1 pm in adjustment with the banking hours.