The central bank has ordered all the scheduled banks to keep their operations closed on Sunday and Wednesday next week following higher coronavirous infections and deaths in Bangladesh recently.
"We've taken the latest decisions considering the recent surge of Covid-19 infection and deaths in the country," a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told the FE.
He also said the banks have been instructed to extend the working period for customers by one hour to facilitate business activities across the country.
The central bank also asked the banks to provide services on a limited scale on August 01, 03 and 05 by keeping open their branches from 10 am to 4:00 pm instead of 3.00pm, according to a notification issued by the central bank on Wednesday.
Banking transaction period has also been re-fixed from 10:00am to 2:30 pm instead of 10:00am to 1:30 pm earlier in each working day, it added.
Under the notification, clients would be allowed to settle financial transactions until 2:30 pm instead of 1:30 pm earlier on each working day until August 05.
The central bank had taken the decision after the government announced the latest two weeks of the nationwide strict lockdown until August 05 to curb the second wave of the Covid-19 infections.
The banks have also been asked to ensure transactions by arranging smooth operations of alternative delivery channels (ADCs) round the clock during the period.
The ADCs cover the operations of ATM (automated teller machine), POS (point of sale), e-payment gateway, and mobile financial services (MFS).
Meanwhile bdnews24.com adds: The stock market's trading hours for next week have also been revised.
Mohammad Rezaul Karim, executive director and spokesman from the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission, told the news agency.
"The stock market will be closed on Sunday and Wednesday next week. And trading (on the remaining three days of the week) will be extended by an hour. Trading will begin at 10 am and transactions will continue until 2 pm."
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