Bank / Credit Union

Dalbar study shows U.S. banks need to clean up their act

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September 21, 2020

Don't panic, but it's quite possible your bank is not following guidelines on sanitizing its facility for coronavirus.

In fact, U.S. banks need to step it up in the cleaning department, according to a nationwide study from Dalbar, an independent evaluator and auditor of financial institutions.

The study, COVID-19 Crisis: In Branch Spot Check Study, was conducted during a three-week period that ended August 10. Dalbar sent mystery shoppers to 500 branches in the U.S. and 200 branches in Canada, according to a press release.

The banks visited included Capital One, Bank of America, Chase, Citibank, Fifth Third, PNC, SunTrust/Truist, TD Bank, US Bank and Wells Fargo. Canadian banks included BMO, CIBC, RBC and Scotiabank.

In the U.S. ATMs were the biggest point of weakness. Secret shoppers saw only 7% of ATMs being cleaned.

Although 91% of Canadian banks deployed additional safety measures at ATMs to protect customers, which included separators between machines, signs to indicate where to wait or hand sanitizer at the ATMs, half of U.S. branch ATMs had no such safety measures.

Overall, bank greeters at branch doors wore masks 44% of the time, and 19% of teller areas were cleaned between customers.

Bank of America, Chase and Citibank had the only branches where tellers wore masks 100% of the time. U.S. bank branch tellers were seen wearing masks on average 94% of the time. The average in Canada was 80%. In both countries, about 1 out of 5 branches lacked markings or signage to reinforce social distancing at or near teller windows.

"There was no clear winner overall. We were expecting a Bank of America or Citibank to have it locked and loaded all the way across," Michelle Slute, vice president of research for Dalbar, said in the release. "If there are holes in it, you're only as strong as your weakest link.