Disaster planning

Bankers are putting pre-established action plans for disaster recovery into motion as wildfires in Los Angeles sweep across the region.

Natural disasters are becoming more frequent and more severe, and victims will always require support from their banks. A plan for delivering that support needs to be in place before disaster strikes.

The CU Relief Fund for Ukraine, which launched in late 2022, now takes public donations and is working to recruit more institutions to its cause.

In the wake of destruction across Maui, financial institutions based inside and outside of Hawaii are establishing support programs, raising relief funds and facilitating donations of food and clothing.

Storms earlier this month crippled local communities in the Green Mountain state. Banks, which have had to close branches or open alternative ones, are offering flexible loan repayment options and working with municipalities to finance the rebuilding of infrastructure.

During the pandemic, many banks adopted programs that helped struggling families find stability. Make that a permanent strategy.

Financial institutions have launched tailored relief campaigns to help refugees begin rebuilding their lives.

Juliette Kayyem, a veteran crisis manager, explores practical steps leaders can take to be ready for the next disaster in “The Devil Never Sleeps.”

Branches across the country have closed temporarily, or switched to drive-thru service, as infections and quarantine rules have forced many bank workers to stay home.

Comerica, Regions and Frost Bank closed hundreds of branches statewide while others ran them at reduced capacity or on power generators to help ease the strain on the state’s overwhelmed power grid.

From natural disasters to pandemics, the best business-continuity strategy may simply be to ensure you have a strategy.

Coronavirus has taken bankers out of their comfort zone. But they should view adaptations they’ve made in confronting the pandemic as a chance to hone their emergency response skills, not a permanent new normal.

Industry veterans have drawn from their experiences with wildfires, earthquakes and hurricanes to fashion their responses to the pandemic.

Reports from the Singapore office, a coronavirus war room and a hardworking IT staff all helped TD Bank Group get nearly all employees ready to work from home and able to handle a tripling of remote deposit capture activity.

The credit union regulator's Office of Credit Union Resources and Expansion is making grants of up to $7,500 available to low-income designated institutions.

High-tech self-service channels can help credit unions effectively and efficiently meet members' needs during a time of social distancing.

Automated and interactive teller machines aren’t germ-free in the best of times, and the pandemic has raised new concerns about the possibility of those devices infecting consumers and staff.

Many institutions said they would close branches, operate drive-throughs only, limit lobby visits to appointments or take other protective steps. Yet others want to stay open to promote public confidence in the banking system.

In announcing the central bank’s emergency rate cut, Chairman Jerome Powell warned that the Fed can only do so much.

JPMorgan Chase is asking thousands of U.S. employees to work from home as it tests a contingency plan for closing domestic offices should the coronavirus spread, according to people with knowledge of the matter.