Georgia's Economic Outlook 2020
BANK OF GEORGIA'S BUSINESS CONTINGENCY PLAN - COVID-19
The Group has introduced a number of resilience protocols and a comprehensive Business Continuity Plan ("BCP") aimed at curbing the spread of
COVID-19 in Georgia and mitigating the negative impact on our business and the community. We started developing the BCP at the end of
January 2020, such that all of our operations would be successfully adapted to the new operating environment, while establishing the health and
safety of all our staff and customers as the number one priority.
Our BCP is focused on three main pillars: Operating efficiency (employees, customers and community), capital, and liquidity and funding positions.
SAFETY MEASURES
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The Bank's main branches remain open with additional security
measures introduced. We reduced the physical presence of bankers in
the Bank's service centres. Two-week shifts have been introduced in
front offices and other service areas throughout the business, to ensure
ongoing availability of team members
Most Express branches remain open, however, the Bank has initiated
the temporary closure of the customer service support areas of these
branches, with only the self-service terminals and ATM areas remaining
open
Banking services, where possible, are conducted exclusively via call
centres, which is operating remotely, with employees working from
home with significantly increased capacity since March 2020
A three-month grace period on principal and interest payments has
been introduced on all retail loans in order to significantly reduce the
requirement for customers to physically visit Bank branches
We have further increased focus on our digitalisation strategy and
introduced various initiatives to incentivise the transfer of our
customers' activity to digital channels
In the Bank's back office environments, the majority of staff are now
working from home
Additional safety measures have been introduced in our locations. Glass
barriers have been installed for our teller/operators to ensure secure
interaction with customers; all employees are required to wear gloves
and face masks and are equipped with hand sanitisers. The Bank's
premises, as well as ATMs and self-service terminals, are sanitised twice
a day, and all employees and customers entering the Bank premises
have to undergo mandatory body temperature checks. Maximum of
three customers are allowed to enter the branch at the same time.
Cash center is split in two locations and operating in two-week shifts,
where employees have to follow even stricter protocols and procedures
in order to minimise the infection risk due to direct interaction with cashView entire presentation