Access Bank Adjusts Closing Hours Amid High Operating Costs
As businesses continue to operate under a hashed economic environment battered by macroeconomic headwinds, Access Bank has adjusted its operating hours in some branches mostly in the hinterland, bringing forward the closing hour to 3:00 pm
The bank in a notification entitled ‘Adjusted Closing Time for Select Branches’to its esteemed customers containing the list of the branches and the states where they operate, Access bank urged its customers to consider processing most of their transactions via its digital channels.
“You can simply process most of your transactions via our digital channels, as a few of our Access Bank branches nationwide will be closed at 3 pm from the 29th of August, 2022,” Access Bank stated.
Other branches will be open as usual from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm, the bank said, promising to keep its customers informed as it made the changes.
GTCO and some others took such measures early in the year, adjusting its operating hours in response to the energy crisis that saw diesel spring to N800 per litre.
Meanwhile, the current economic reality of surging inflation, energy cost, and naira depreciation among others are impacting the operations of corporate entities.
For example, Nigeria’s inflationary pressure hit a 17-year high of 19.64 per cent in July even as the price of energy (diesel) has risen to an all-time high of N800 per litre.
While Access Bank has yet to release its Q2 2022 result, a look at its unaudited Q1 result shows that the bank’s operating expenses rose by 23.63 per cent to N77.26 billion from N62.49 billion.
Though Access Bank did not state the reasons behind the adjustment of its operating hours, however, this might not be unconnected to the bank’s move to cut operating costs.
It might also mean that its banking transactions are shrinking because of the current economic realities brought about by inflation and high energy costs.
Source: Insidebusiness
