Following the announcement made by the Government with regard to the temporary confinement, the Bank of Mauritius is taking all necessary measures to ensure that there is no disruption in basic banking and payment services provided by banks during the confinement period.

Further to a meeting held with the Mauritius Bankers Association today, the following decisions have been taken:

• To ensure fair coverage in the delivery of basic banking services, banks will keep branches open in strategic locations with minimal staff.
• A reduced number of branches will be opened from 10:00 to 13:00 from Thursday 11 March 2021 to Saturday 13 March 2021. The public will have access to these branches in alphabetical order as per the communiqué issued by Government. Respective banks will communicate to the public the list of their strategic branches which will be open.
• As from Monday 15 March 2021, additional branches will be opened. A further communiqué will be issued to this effect.
• Banks will waive/refund the fees applicable to shared ATM services during the temporary confinement period to enable customers to have access to the ATM of any bank, regardless of the issuer of the card, without having to pay any fee.
• The Bank of Mauritius will continuously supply commercial banks with adequate banknotes for their ATMs.
• The Bank of Mauritius will maintain the operations of its payments and settlement systems.
• Banking activities and hours of opening of bank branches in Rodrigues remain unchanged.

With a view to minimizing the contagion of COVID-19, and limiting physical movements to bank branches, the Bank of Mauritius strongly encourages the public to use internet banking facilities and other electronic modes of payments, such as cards and mobiles.