Security
FNB of South Africa adheres to safety mandate for ATMs
January 14, 2021
The First National Bank of South Africa has announced the rollout of a comprehensive COVID-19 safety program for its branch network and ATMs with the goal of keeping both customers and staff as safe as possible, according to a press release.
The government has issued a regulatory mandate that all banks and establishments with ATMs must ensure that there are hand sanitizers available and customers are adhering to social distancing protocols.
Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, South Africa's cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister explained that the change was made as the government was concerned about banking queues becoming 'super-spreader' events.
"It came to our attention that people queue at ATMs but there is no sanitization there," Dlamini-Zuma said in the release. "The regulation is that every bank or financial institution that has an ATM must ensure that there are sanitizers at the ATM. This is very important because otherwise, the ATMs could become super spreaders."
