Long queues for new banknotes ahead of Chinese New Year
Banks are anticipating more people to come and are rolling out measures to manage the crowd.
SINGAPORE: Long queues have formed at local banks across the island, as people start to withdraw fresh dollar bills for red packets ahead of Chinese New Year.
Some customers have resorted to waiting in line for hours just to get their hands on crisp notes.
Banks are anticipating more people to come and are rolling out measures to manage the crowd.
STILL A DEMAND FOR NEW NOTES
When CNA visited one community club, there were long lines of people waiting patiently to receive fresh notes from three pop-up ATMs, all hoping for an auspicious start to Chinese New Year.
“Basically, it's a Chinese culture,” said one customer.
“During Chinese New Year, we will give hongbaos (red packets) to the elderly or to the kids, as a blessing for them for good health, for everything to be smooth.”
According to a heat map by DBS, most of its branches saw people queuing for more than two hours in the morning.
Ms Diane Chang, executive director of the consumer banking group at DBS, said: “We acknowledge that for our customers, there is still a demand for physical notes, and they do like the tangibility of the physical hongbaos.”
Over at UOB, nearly half its branches are running low on S$2, S$10 and S$50 bills.
OCBC's slots are also fully booked.
This year, customers can choose to receive brand new notes, or notes that look almost new.
However, there is no contest which is more popular, with customers preferring new bills.
"I want the new notes to have the same running numbers. Because that's one of the reasons I want to change,” said one customer. “I'll usually keep all the nice numbers.”
BANKS STEP UP CROWD-CONTROL MEASURES
Banks are expecting more customers in the coming days and they are stepping up measures to manage the crowds.
“We have deployed as many temporary staff as we can into our branches to help with the crowds,” said Mr Benny Chan, managing director of group channels and digitalisation at UOB.
“We have also used the SMS queue system, where customers can book the SMS queue and then that will reduce the amount of time they have to wait physically in the branch.”
The bank is also using its gig employment programme to get retired staff “to come back to help during this period in our branches”, he added.
Meanwhile, DBS is also giving extra slots to seniors.
"For the seniors, we actually opened up five additional slots every hour, for them to be able to queue for their notes,” said Ms Chang.
Customers who do not wish to get caught up with the crowd, and want to do their bit for the environment, are encouraged to try alternative gifting methods, such as e-hongbao and digital gift cards.
