The Banking Executive - Decemebr 2021, Issue 156

the BANKING EXECUTIVE 32 ISSUE 156 DECEMBER 2021 Astro Bank 2.COVID-19 PANDEMIC HAS CAUSED AN UNPRECEDENTED AND UNEXPECTED HIT TO THE GLOBAL AND LOCAL ECONOMIES. WHAT FINANCIAL AND ECONOMIC MEASURES HAS ASTROBANK TAKEN IN RESPONSE TO THE PANDEMIC? IS IT TRUE THAT YOU HAVE VOLUNTEERED A SALARY CUT? I have indeed taken a voluntary 50% decrease in my financial package as an incentive to render the cost-cut- ting measures we were implement- ing, more palatable for my colleagues. The Board thanked me for this initiative and adopted it. As for AstroBank, it was essential for us from the onset to maintain our capital base at comfortable levels, to closely manage our loan portfolio by keeping a close contact with our clients, to enhance our non-interest revenue flows and preserve the prof- itability of our transaction banking activity. We have successfully achieved all this and we have simul- taneously implemented a general re- organization of our various business units. 3. AS VACCINATION RATES ARE INCREASING AND BUSINESSES RETURNING TO WORK, SOCIAL DISTANCING AND HEALTH PRO- CEDURES BECAME PART OF THE NEW NORMAL POST PANDEMIC ERA, AND INSTITUTIONS ARE AC- CORDINGLY ADOPTING MEAS- URES TO PROTECT BOTH EMPLOYEES AND CLIENTS. WHAT ARE THE ACTIONS TAKEN BY AS- TROBANK IN THIS REGARD? Throughout the past 18 months, we have operated by splitting our staff in two and sometimes even three groups. Alternating work from home and presence in the offices, while re- lying heavily on online meetings. We have also instituted rigorous health protocols and protective procedures involving frequent sanitization of the premises, regular PCRs, and daily cleaning methods involving scrub- bing possible contamination contact points with antiseptic products, at regular intervals. We found most of these procedures to be very useful in preserving a clean environment and we have decided to maintain them.