(Adds Intesa statement on appointments to access branches)
By Hans Seidenstuecker and Sinead Cruise
FRANKFURT/LONDON, March 16 (Reuters) - Two of Germany's
largest banks have temporarily shut hundreds of branches, while
Italian lenders have shortened opening hours as they grapple
with staff shortages and the spread of coronavirus.
Commerzbank said it will close several hundred of
its roughly 1,000 branches in Germany, with the exact number yet
to be determined, while HVB said it plans to close 101 of its
337 branches during Monday.
The banks are hoping that increased use of digital banking
will limit the disruption caused by restricted branch services,
while in Britain, Spain and France, where most banks remain
open, there have been calls on customers to go online.
Customers of HVB and Commerzbank will still be able to use
ATMs, online services and those branches that remain open.
Several German savings banks have already closed or are planning
to close branches.
Around 900 larger branches at Italy's biggest retail bank,
Intesa San Paolo, out of a total of 3,500, are only
opening in the morning while most of its smaller sites are
operating three mornings a week.
Intesa, which has closed some 122 of its small branches
located nearer large ones, said that starting from on Tuesday
customers would need to book an appointment to be able to access
one of its branches.
UniCredit, which has around 4,000 branches in Italy, said
last week it would keep only a limited number open in each
region.
Other Italian banks are following suit, with Banca Monte dei
Paschi also opening only in the morning.
BANKS PREPARED
British banking trade body UK Finance, which represents more
than 250 firms, said continued access to banking services was
"critical" and it would work closely with government and
regulators to ensure its members could keep serving customers.
"Operational resilience is therefore crucial and the
industry is working hard to ensure its systems, human and
digital, remain robust and secure," a spokesman told Reuters.
And in France, the country's banking federation said that
"despite complex operational conditions, all employees in the
networks are and will remain fully mobilised to help their
clients to get through this exceptional crisis."
"Banking networks will be open and branches are prepared,"
the French federation said in a statement on Sunday.
Britain's biggest domestic lender, Lloyds, said it
was waiving fees on missed payments on credit cards, loans and
mortgages, giving repayment holidays, allowing emergency access
to fixed-term savings accounts and raising online banking
deposit limits to help people unable to access local branches.
"We are making some temporary changes over the coming weeks,
and will be providing individual support to customers who need
extra help," Vim Maru, group director, Retail, said.
Barclays also said it was encouraging customers to
speak to specialist teams set up to help those facing financial
difficulty, and that it would also accept applications for
temporary increases in credit card limits during the disruption.
Executives at TSB, owned by Spain's Banco de Sabadell
, are having regular calls to discuss and plan for
possible changes in the UK's approach to delaying the spread of
coronavirus, a spokesman said.
There was no suggestion of sudden demand for cash from
concerned customers or any service issues related to keeping
ATMs well-stocked, the spokesman added.
While two branches had been closed due to staff illness, TSB
said there were no immediate plans to close others pre-emptively
and the bank's main call centre in Bristol was operating as
normal, with no surge in calls from customers.
British building society Nationwide said it would
open more than 100 of its 650 branches an hour early so that
elderly and vulnerable customers, concerned about their exposure
to coronavirus, could manage their money in a safe environment.
(Reporting by Hans Seidenstuecker in Frankfurt and Sinead
Cruise in London
Additional reporting by Patricia Uhlig, Tom Sims, Valentina Za,
Maya Nikolaeva, Iain Withers, Lawrence White and Jesus Aguado
Writing by Tom Sims and Rachel Armstrong
Editing by Alexander Smith and Matthew Lewis)
Barclays (BARC)
Lloyds (LLOY)