Key Challenges and Measures on Covid-19
Amid ongoing recovery from Covid-19, we renew our commitment to the provision of assistance that may be needed during this phase. We at AMB continue to make appropriate amendments to our banking operations to ensure safety of our staff, clients and partners.
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The Bank held an extraordinary meeting on taking some precautionary measures for Covid-19 Prevention as described below:
- Suspending the use of fingerprint reader and replacing it with smart job card to confirm staff attendance and departure [times-in and times-out].
- Ensuring that all staff are committed to thermal device checks to verify their body temperature before entering AMB premises. - Disinfecting hands before entering AMB premises.
Sanitize your hands well before entering the bank
- Ensuring that all staff stay in their places without moving between offices unless is it is highly necessary.
- Reducing in-person meetings or using on-line communication for this purpose.
- Avoiding handshakes.
- Providing hygiene items, including disinfectants, facemasks and gloves, and distributing them to all AMB staff, guards and cleaners, as well as providing thermal devices to the AMB Head Office and branches.
- Replacing current cleaners with more experienced ones from a reputable firm.
- Issuing a circular from Human Resources Department to all departmental and branch managers to fill out the ‘original and substitute employee’ form, which confirms that a substitute is taking the role of the original employee while the latter is on vacation or on an emergency leave.
- Keeping all office doors open to avoid touching door handles, including doors of AMB Head Office [fourth floor] with guards performing their job as required.
- Closing cafeterias in the AMB Head Office and branches, and instructing staff to bring any needed snacks from home.
- Suspending the use of office water filters.
- Suspending group meals in the AMB Head Office and branches.
- Suspending internal and external in-person training workshops.
- Suspending internal and external travel missions.
- Ensuring that all staff are committed to thermal device checks to verify their body temperature before entering AMB premises. - Disinfecting hands before entering AMB premises.
Sanitize your hands well before entering the bank
- Ensuring that all staff stay in their places without moving between offices unless is it is highly necessary.
- Reducing in-person meetings or using on-line communication for this purpose.
- Avoiding handshakes.
- Providing hygiene items, including disinfectants, facemasks and gloves, and distributing them to all AMB staff, guards and cleaners, as well as providing thermal devices to the AMB Head Office and branches.
- Replacing current cleaners with more experienced ones from a reputable firm.
- Issuing a circular from Human Resources Department to all departmental and branch managers to fill out the ‘original and substitute employee’ form, which confirms that a substitute is taking the role of the original employee while the latter is on vacation or on an emergency leave.
- Keeping all office doors open to avoid touching door handles, including doors of AMB Head Office [fourth floor] with guards performing their job as required.
- Closing cafeterias in the AMB Head Office and branches, and instructing staff to bring any needed snacks from home.
- Suspending the use of office water filters.
- Suspending group meals in the AMB Head Office and branches.
- Suspending internal and external in-person training workshops.
- Suspending internal and external travel missions.
Also, the Bank established precautionary measures for COVID-19 prevention during the distribution of cash transfers, as listed below:
- Reducing in-person meetings with partner organizations and shifting to virtual or on-line communication.
- Suspending internal in-person training for staff and agents, and shifting to virtual training.
- Addressing agents involved in cash distribution about the necessity of providing preventive means (facemasks, gloves and disinfectants…etc.).
- Posting precautionary guidelines on payment sites and urging beneficiaries to read them.
- Connecting organizations and beneficiaries to E-Money [PYes] App to minimize the direct use of cash money.
- Telling cashiers to take necessary precautions on an ongoing basis during the distribution of cash, wear facemasks and gloves and disinfect hands before and after cash distribution.
- Keeping a safe distance between beneficiaries while queuing at payment sites to pick up their entitlements.
- Increasing the number of cashers on-site to reduce crowds of beneficiaries.
- Urging beneficiaries to put money in wallets and then in pockets.
- Advising cashiers / beneficiaries to use finger wet sponge [for counting the money] and change them every half an hour.
- Urging the beneficiaries and cashiers not to touch the face during or after counting the money.
- Using in-pocket disinfectants and cleaning hands at least once every hour.
- Avoiding the counting of money while being on a position closer to the face to prevent transmission of the infection through respiratory track.
AMB Digital Transformation during the Corona Pandemic:
During (COVID- 19), the communications sector is no longer confined to traditional communication and searching for information but it has become the essence of usage data, contents and digital applications by individuals, governments and companies to ensure the continuity and sustainability of economic and social activities in light of new social distance procedures and the full lockdown in most countries around the world.
Digital technologies are fundamentally transforming our economies and countries, making turning point and affecting all sectors, such as agriculture, education, health, governmental and financial services.
- Accordingly, Al-Amal Bank has developed PYes service, which is an electronic money service, can be used via smart phones or via SMS in ordinary mobile with the following key features:
Appropriate for social cash transfers in case of multiple regular payments for beneficiaries. - It enables beneficiaries to withdraw their money at an AMB branch or agent in any governorate or district of the Republic of Yemen with no need to wait in queues.
- Deposit beneficiary entitlements in their own accounts that carry their respective phone numbers.
- A beneficiary receives a short text message when money is deposited in his/her account.
- Through E-Money, a beneficiary can conduct any of the following transactions:
o Withdraw cash at any AMB branch or agent.
o Make money transfers [for oneself or another].
o Pay utility bills (landline, cellphone, internet, water, electricity…etc.).
o Pay for purchased items at a POS.
E-Money (PYes) app has been widely used since the first Covid-19 infection was reported in Yemen. The service was promoted on AMB social media platforms, as well as on E-mail and customer services in all AMB branches.
Also, AMB gave priority to implementing a number of emergency cash transfer projects on PYes. Accordingly, the Bank has contributed to helping beneficiaries get their entitlements with no need to queue at payment sites, as well as buy needs online with no need to use cash.
Following proliferation of the Corona pandemic in Yemen, AMB expanded the use of PYes services, and introduced ‘online finance’. Besides promoting the service among current AMB clients, new clients were being targeted.
The service intends to enable AMB clients to repay loan installments on cellphone using ‘PYes App’ with no need to approach any of the AMB offices. In addition, it also enabled them to provide services to their clients such as paying utility bills (mobile phone, landline, internet, electricity and water) with no need to go to service-provider offices. Moreover, it enables them to conduct several transactions in a single month. Meanwhile, clients can apply for a loan or loan renewal without visiting AMB premises.
Precautionary measures followed by the Bank during the distribution of social cash transfers:
Given that social cash transfer projects target most vulnerable households in the community, AMB had to take all necessary measures to continue with implementation of projects in different case-scenarios and deal with the pandemic, while protecting staff, clients, beneficiaries and payment teams during the distribution of entitlements to beneficiaries of conditional and unconditional cash transfers
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