NCB customer care operations being impacted by COVID-19

The National Commercial Bank Jamaica Limited (NCB) says while it has been able to keep all its locations open since the COVID-19 pandemic, suspected exposure at its Kingston-based contact centre is expected to have an impact on its customer care operations in the short-term.

NCB says three employees displaying symptoms that are potentially related to COVID-19—as well as those who may have been exposed—have been asked to self-isolate and contact the Ministry of Health and Wellness as a precautionary measure, and the facilities have undergone extensive deep-cleaning and sanitisation.

“Although we have contingency plans in place to support our customers and provide them with the assistance they need, our operations will be impacted by the reduction in agent support,” said Danielle Cameron Duncan, Head of Non-Branch Channels at NCB, in a statement today.

“Since the pandemic began, we have had to adjust our physical operations in respect of physical distancing requirements and curfew restrictions, both of which have resulted in a reduction in the number of agents working at any given time as well as our operating hours.”

Cameron Duncan added, “Customers calling or emailing our customer care centre will experience delays and longer than usual waiting times, which we acknowledge is an inconvenience. While we do our best to support them on all our available channels, we encourage customers to take advantage of our digital solutions including the iABMs in our 24/7 Bank on the Go locations, personal online banking and business online banking platforms, our mobile app, or our mobile money solution, Quisk.”

NCB says it now has a total of six employees who have tested positive for COVID-19, all of which are from its Kingston-based locations –The Atrium, 29 Trafalgar Road, Duke Street branch and the Knutsford Boulevard branch.

However, the bank says no customers have been exposed to the affected persons and it continues to practice strict sanitisation and preventative measures.

These include around-the-clock sanitisation of all its locations, mandatory mask-wearing by all employees and customers, installation of sanitisation stations, and temperature checks.

NCB says it also continues to exercise the work-from-home option, where all teams that can operate remotely continue to do so to date.

“Serving our customers is an important priority for our business,” said Cameron Duncan.

“However, we have to do so with many constraints which are for the health and safety everyone. These are very challenging times, and we are doing everything we can to sustain the availability of services. We are asking everyone for their continued understanding and cooperation.”

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