Scotiabank has implemented additional measures to support Canadians, employees and small business owners impacted by COVID-19. With the federal and provincial governments recognizing the important role financial institutions play in delivering important banking services to all Canadians, a majority of Scotiabank’s branches continue to be open with reduced hours to serve customers in communities across Canada, including rural branches.
“As the impact of COVID-19 continues to be felt across all of our communities, we’re continuously making changes to ensure we’re safeguarding the wellbeing of our employees and providing customers and business owners the banking services and financial advice they need right now,” said Dan Rees, Group Head, Canadian Banking for Scotiabank. “We have implemented additional measures including recognizing our people who support customers directly with additional pay and personal days, adding more protective measures in-branch, and making sure our customers – especially seniors – have access to important banking services. As the situation continues to evolve, our commitment to seeing our customers through this time of uncertainty will remain unchanged in our branches, contact centres and online.”
“The stress of the evolving COVID-19 pandemic has been compounded by unprecedented market volatility, so emotions have naturally run high for investors, making sound decision making much more difficult,” says Glen Gowland, Group Head, Global Wealth Management for Scotiabank. “Now more than ever, our Advisor teams are working with our clients to provide them with peace of mind and needed perspective – to help ensure short-term reactionary decisions are not made that could lead to devastating long-term consequences. Our experienced and long-tenured portfolio management teams have proven their ability to deliver over many decades in all market environments, which is invaluable during these uncertain times. Together, we’re working tirelessly to help secure our clients’ futures.”
Support for seniors and personal banking customers:
- Seniors and more vulnerable customers are being given priority service in branches across Canada. Meeting the needs of seniors is a key commitment for Scotiabank. We have appointed a senior level executive as our Seniors Champion to prioritize the needs of seniors as we deliver banking products and services to customers.
- We have reduced our branch hours but will remain open and available to help customers with their banking and advice needs from Monday to Friday, with select branches open on Saturdays.
- We are also providing up to six months of mortgage payment deferral and additional payment deferrals on personal loans, credit cards and lines of credit for eligible customers. We will be launching an online form for customers to request a mortgage payment deferral without having to visit a branch or call our contact centre.
- Digital options are available for everyday banking needs from home, 24 hours a day, through online banking and our Scotia mobile banking app.
Support for small business owners
- Deferral of payment on small business credit cards and credit lines for eligible customers.
- Payment deferral on the principal of a small business loan for eligible customers.
- Continued access to small business advisors and relationship managers for customized advice.
Support for Scotiabank employees
- Additional protective measures are in place including signage to limit in-branch traffic and floor decals to support social distancing efforts.
- Daily enhanced cleaning, hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes will continue to be available in our branches.
- In recognition of our employees’ efforts during this time to be open and available to our customers, we’re providing our customer-facing teams and our contact centres with additional support through payments of $50 a day to eligible employees starting March 16, 2020 until at least the end of April, at which point we will review the situation. These payments are in addition to the five additional personal days we are providing to employees (for a total of 10 personal days in 2020) to assist with any personal obligations stemming from COVID-19.
Staying Connected
For more information on relief measures, customers are encouraged to visit www.scotiabank.com/covid-19 for the latest updates. Business owners are encouraged to reach out to their small business advisor or relationship manager to discuss their individual needs. Online banking and mobile banking are also available to complete every day banking needs, 24/7 from home.