No notifications for FNB clients

First National Bank (FNB) at The Angelo Mall has angered local residents after it shut its doors on October 12 for renovations until December 4 without proper notification.
According to John Fent who has been a client of FNB for over 60 years, the banking institution decided to shut its doors for renovation purposes and has since failed to notify him in due time.
“I don’t mind that they want to shut down their doors for whatever purposes, however, my biggest concern is that this will be done without proper notification,” Fent said.
“As it stands, they decided to put up notices after the bank has been closed and I know this because I go there daily to do our company’s banking”, Fent added.
Before the FNB branch moved to The Angelo Mall it was situated in Hendrik Verwoerd Street which suited most clients, considering many of them are below the average Living Standards Measure (LSM) and don’t have their own transport.
The move to The Angelo Mall caused a challenge clients face in terms of accessibility which should have given the branch a clear indication of what the requirements of their clients are in this regard.
With the branch temporarily closed, it raises an even bigger problem for clients without their own transport as they would have to utilise the FNB branch in Heidelberg.
“I don’t have my own transport and walk to the FNB at The Angelo Mall. I simply won’t be able to afford to travel to Heidelberg each time to do my banking and currently have my hands tied as month-end is approaching. If only I was notified via sms, I could have tried to make the necessary arrangements”, Cloria Mkwana, an FNB client said.
“The least they could have done was send emails and notification sms’s to all its clients notifying them of the renovations and also that the ATMs will be out of order for the duration of the renovations”, Fent continued.
According to FNB Victorian Centre’s service manager Shelley Nonudu the sudden increase will affect operations as they are expecting one third more clients to utilise the bank towards the end of the month.
FNB deployed a mobile bank on October 23 at The Angelo Mall to service clients who are unable to travel to the nearest branch but ran out of cash after the second day it was delivered. The ‘mobile bank’ also does not support cash deposits.