COVID-19: A message from Grobank’s CEO

During a time of rapid and unprecedented change, I would like to take a moment to update you on what we are doing as a bank to protect our clients, partners, colleagues and the communities we operate in following the outbreak of the Corona virus in South Africa.

On Sunday 15 March 2020, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that the country considers the outbreak of COVID-19 a state of emergency and gave guidelines as to what steps citizens and industries need to take in order to slow down the spread of the Corona virus.

At Grobank we are following these guidelines very carefully and have decided to implement the following in order to contribute to the efforts of the government:

• An international and domestic travel ban, which will see our team based either at home or in the office for everybody’s safety until further notice
• A remote working policy with the part of our workforce that can conduct their tasks from home, doing so with immediate effect
• An internal action group that monitors the COVID-19 situation and communicates on a daily basis in order to respond accordingly
• Increased frequency of cleaning our premises and where relevant, our respective environments undergo deep-cleaning.
• Reinforcement of increased hygiene practices in line with World Health Organisation and local government advice.
• Increased communication on COVID-19 (including our approach to managing the associated risks) and the provision of up to date information to our employees
• Encouragement of the use of available technology (such as video and audio-conferencing tools) to conduct internal and external meetings
• Limiting group gatherings and attendance at conferences and events.

Your first point of contact is your relationship manager. There should be no disruption to our day-to-day operations or service delivery. We are using remote-enabled teleconferencing technology to connect with our colleagues and clients and for the majority of our meetings.  We therefore discourage you to visit our suites and offices for the immediate future. We have business continuity plans in place in order to deal with the eventualities that will arise from this dynamic situation.

We will endeavor to provide you with the same quick and proactive response and personalised service that you have become accustomed to. I want to let you know that we are here for you and remain committed to our promise that we will be there every step of the way in your financial journey.

While the way in which we interact for the foreseeable future is affected, our service to you will not be affected. Our relationship and partnership with you will continue to drive our shared ambition.

We urge you to take the necessary precautions to keep yourself, your family and your business safe.

As per normal operations, please don’t hesitate to contact us should you have any queries.

Kind Regards,
Bennie van Rooy
Chief Executive Officer