Atif Bajwa, President MCB Bank Ltd, expressed his deepest regrets on the acts of violence and vandalism over the last few days. Despite the damage done to MCB property across the country, particularly in Sindh, most of the MCB branches opened doors to customers on Monday December 31 at 9 am with high availability of staff and services.
Giving details of the damages suffered by MCB Bank, President, Atif Bajwa stated that in total approximately 36 branches (out of a total of 10071 branches) and 21 ATMs were severely affected.
However, all the employees of the bank remained safe. Most affected areas include Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Naudero, Nawabshah, and other cities of Sindh province. For the six critically affected branches in Karachi, alternate arrangements have already been made. While for other cities of Sindh, back up arrangements are underway. The information about these arrangements is available through the Bank's 24/7 Call Center at 111-000-622.
Atif Bajwa also paid special thanks to MCB employees who went an extra mile over the last 72 hours to ensure services resumed satisfactorily across MCB network in Pakistan.
MCB, like other institutions, is also facing challenges in terms of stable infrastructure support including but not limited to malfunctioned telephone lines, disrupted electricity etc in some premises while staff is facing difficulty to commute. He said because of the issues stated above there may be difficulty faced by customers in accessing some services such as encashment of traveller cheques, availability of cash in ATMs, lower service levels at branches but efforts are being made to reduce the inconvenience caused.
He also stated that being the end of the financial year, there is an additional pressure on employees in terms of workload. He appreciated the SBP's co-operation and co-ordination in this regard and ensured that MCB will do its utmost in getting the required done at the earliest and in the best possible manner.
Responding to a question Atif Bajwa stated the customer valuables in lockers are safe and the bank is making every effort to protect these. He reassured everyone that highest priority is being given to safety & security of customer valuables and staff. He also informed that rescue teams comprising private guards have been instituted in Karachi and Lahore to deal with any security concern of any branch or its staff. A special crisis management team has also been formed comprising of senior management representatives, which is in constant touch with staff and local authorities at affected locations and is working round the clock towards making alternate arrangements.
About the value of expected loss Atif Bajwa said it is bit early to comment on this. Though teams have started the assessment work, more accurate estimates will be available in due course. He concluded that MCB management is closely monitoring the situation and will keen all the stakeholders informed about the latest developments.-PR