IOM Bank Blasted For Extending Branch Closures

Wed, 24 Jun 2020

There has been angry backlash against the Isle of Man Bank’s decision to keep Peel and Port Erin branches closed, despite social distancing ending.

The branches, along with Regent Street in Douglas were closed during lockdown with the Athol Street branch reducing its operating hours.

Large queues formed on a daily basis.

Now the Bank has announced that its Regent Street branch will reopen from Monday, but Peel and Port Erin will remain closed.

Many bank customers have vented their anger on social media, some branding the bank ‘a disgrace’.

Government Minister Geoffrey Boot has also criticised the bank in a post on both his Facebook Page and on his personal account: Mr Boot posted a photo of queuing customers in Douglas and said the bank can ‘do better this’. On Saturday he posted a photo of Peel branch asking “What about serving your customers”.

You can read the full statement from the Isle of Bank below:

 

Isle of Man Bank – Changes to Branch Opening Times      24 June 2020

Isle of Man Bank has announced further changes to its opening hours, the re-opening of its branch in Regent Street and extending the opening hours at Athol Street, Ramsey and Castletown branches.

From Monday 29^th June, the Regent Street branch will re-open from 9.30 am until 4.30 pm to provide a self-service facility for its customers. Athol Street, Ramsey and Castletown branches will extend their opening hours and will be open from 9.30 am to 4.30 pm (currently it is 10.00 am to 2.00 pm).The two branches at Port Erin and Peel will remain closed for the time being. The Bank is also ending social distancing measures inside its branches from today (24^th June).

A spokesman explained:

‘During this unprecedent crisis, hundreds of our customers have requested support with overdrafts, loans and capital repayments breaks and many of our colleagues have been re-deployed to help customers with their critical needs and to meet the drive to increasingly use our digital options. 

However, as restrictions are lifted and high streets and businesses re-open, there is now increased demand and so we plan to re-open our Regent Street branch from Monday and extend the opening hours of three other branches.

With many colleagues still re-deployed to meet critical customer needs, we do not have the resources to open all our branches at the present time without affecting our ability to meet customer requirements effectively. We are sorry that we cannot open all our branches at the moment but we will keep the opening times of all our branches under constant review and make further changes when the time is right.

We would continue to encourage customers to use online banking whenever they can. Our online banking and mobile app provide many of the services available in branch and we also have telephone banking services available.’

All the up to date information can be found at the following page:

https://www.natwestinternational.com/global/branch-locator.html

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