Caroline will not be losing its only bank.
ATB reassured the community on Wednesday that it intends to reopen its branch in the village in the new year.
“I can assure you that we have no intentions of leaving the community of Caroline and are planning to reopen early in the new year,” says a letter sent to Reg Dean, president of the Caroline and District Chamber of Commerce.
Dean had expressed concern in his own letter last week that ATB would leave permanently and remove a vital service for many residents.
The bank said that the temporary closure resulted from the pandemic.
“To help slow the spread of COVID-19, ATB reduced hours at all locations and temporarily closed select branches, including Caroline.
“At this time, we made a decision to temporarily close the Caroline branch to ensure we are proactively managing the second wave of infection.”
ATB first temporarily closed its Caroline branch last spring, in the early days of the pandemic. Other branches were either left open or reverted to appointment-only services.
“When we made the decision to temporarily close branches, we did so based on several factors including protecting
the health and wellness of our team members, reduced volume of customers in the branch, our ability to staff the
branch given issues faced by our team members including child care, and based on the location of branches such as
commercial centres, malls and other business centres, that have closed,” says ATB.
Caroline’s ATB re-opened again earlier this year before closing again.
ATB says while the branch is closed customers can do their banking online, by mobile or telephone. The ATM remains for withdrawals or deposits.