Liberty Bank Contingency Planning – COVID-19

Liberty Bank has announced that it has introduced a number of measures aimed at ensuring the health and safety of their colleagues and customers and minimizing disruptions to their business.

Liberty Bank says it is working in close coordination with the Government of Georgia and the National Bank of Georgia to ensure that the economic impact of COVID-19 is mitigated and that the banking system continues to provide uninterrupted services to all segments of our population.

The Bank’s absolute priority is to ensure the health and safety of its staff, representatives say. Toward this end, some of the measures the Bank has implemented include:

Introducing shifts in customer-facing areas to minimize health hazards for their colleagues;

Providing their customer-facing colleagues with protective items such as disinfectants, masks, gloves, etc.;

Disinfecting its branches and other working areas several times a day;

Stepping up communications with customers with a view to maximizing the number of transactions via ATMs, pay-boxes, call centers and other remote channels.

As part of its business contingency planning, the Bank has upgraded and successfully tested remote communications capabilities to ensure that their colleagues continue performing their duties from home.

“In addition, some of our colleagues responsible for critical back-office functions, such as IT, have been moved to split locations. In addition to the measures aimed at protecting the health and safety of our colleagues, the Bank has taken several steps to ensure that our customers, both in retail and non-retail segments, have more flexibility in managing their finances and adjusting to the changing business environment. Such steps include:

Introducing three-month grace periods on principal and interest payments for individuals and legal entities;

Canceling commissions related to utilities’ payments via remote channels for a three-month period;

Extending the validity of social cards by three months,” the Bank administration announced.

Vasil Khodeli, CEO of Liberty Bank, said: “Our human capital is our most valuable asset and the Bank will continue doing its utmost to ensure the health and safety of our staff. I would like to take this opportunity to express my deep gratitude to our colleagues who continue working in our branches ensuring that all of our customers, including pensioners and social welfare recipients, receive banking services in an uninterrupted fashion. These are challenging times but I am confident that, in close cooperation with the Government of Georgia, the National Bank of Georgia and other stakeholders, we will mitigate the adverse impact of the virus and get through the crisis better and stronger”.