ABB starts collecting data on Covid-19-affected bankers
Information from various banks and hospitals shows that at least ten bankers have died from the virus so far, all of them male
Association of Bankers, Bangladesh (ABB) has initiated a data collection effort about bankers affected by Covid-19 who fell ill, died or recovered from the Covid-19 infection.
Syed Mahbubur Rahman, former chairman of ABB and managing director of Mutual Trust Bank, has told The Business Standard that Bangladesh Bank has put the issue of providing health insurance money to the bank employees affected by the coronavirus and grants to the families of the deceased to the respective banks.
"However, we, on behalf of ABB, have asked all banks to keep this information centrally so that the health losses of bank employees in coronavirus can be accounted for. Once this virus situation returns to normal, we can review the data to see how much the coronavirus pandemic has hit the health of Bank employees," he added.
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Information from various banks and hospitals shows that at least ten bankers have died from the virus so far, all of them male.
Some bank officials claimed that the actual number of deaths would be a bit higher as they know that a few more bank employees have died from the virus.
However, banks are trying to cover the matter up for fear of spreading panic, the bank officials have alleged.
The sector reported its first death on April 26, the day Mujtaba Shahriar, who worked at human resources department of City Bank, died.
Over 70 bank employees in different parts of the country have been infected by the virus, but most of them have been recovering, the officials claim.
The most affected are state-owned Sonali Bank, with 30 officials followed by Islami Bank Bangladesh Ltd with 10 employees.
In addition, three stuff of Agrani Bank, three of Rupali Bank, three of Southeast Bank, three of City Bank, two of Bangladesh Krishi Bank, one of Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank and one of Mercantile Bank were reported to be infected with Covid-19.
On March 26, the government declared a general holiday across the country to contain the spread of the virus. However, banks were kept open to a limited extent to keep the economic activities active.
On April 15, considering the health risks of the bank employees, Bangladesh Bank announced health insurance for the bank employees who will be infected by the virus while working in the bank.
