Who is that masked man and has he been mandated to wear that mask?

My brother is a tall guy. He stands well over six feet and has pretty broad shoulders. If he's standing in front of you, he could seem like a threat due to his size, although his only acts of violence that I recall consist of pushing another boy on the playground when they were in the first-grade (I believe over a dispute about Batman), and the time he tossed a temperamental toaster out the back door (a family legend). Aside from those two memorable incidents, he's a pretty mild-mannered guy.

My brother, like all of us, wears a mask now when he works for the local water authority or goes out to the store or out to dinner with his family. His bank lobby recently reopened and as he walked in wearing a mask and stood on line to make a deposit, (social distancing of course,) while waiting his turn, he looked around at the other customers wearing masks and he started to laugh.

When he reached the teller, he commented, "You know, I never thought I'd be expected to wear a mask into a bank."

He and the teller laughed, but when he relayed the story to me, I thought about this industry and how the wearing of masks adds another level of complexity for banks when dealing with the health and safety of staff and customers post-pandemic.

Should masks be mandatory?

Banks traditionally have prohibited customers from entering branches wearing items that could shield their identities such as hoodies, sunglasses or in the past, masks, in the event of a robbery.

Richard Hunt, president of the Consumer Bankers Association in a recent report by the Washington Post said, "Wearing a mask at any businesses, especially a bank, just a few months ago would have raised a lot of eyebrows."

How ironic is it that not wearing the mask makes you stand out?

Recently, the American Bankers Association urged its members to wear masks while dealing with or out in the public.

"We owe it to front-line bank staff to prioritize their safety and to contribute to the wider effort to limit the spread of this infection," Rob Nichols, the group's president and chief executive said in a letter to its members.

But Brian P. Brooks, the acting comptroller of currency for the Federal government, disagrees, and sent a letter to U.S. mayors that said, "Lengthy and potentially permanent requirements that individuals wear face masks in many or even all public spaces create the very real risk of increases in bank robberies."

How great a risk? The Washington Post report stated that a man recently walked into a bank wearing a bandana covering his face and handed a note to the teller. The note stated that he hadn't gotten his stimulus check, his PPP loan and had subsequently lost his business due to the coronavirus, and now he was robbing the bank. His note politely told the teller to please comply and make things easier for both of them.

Another would-be robber in Florida entered a Wells Fargo branch wearing sunglasses and cone type facemask and had every intention of robbing the bank. Despite demanding the cash several times, he became increasingly frustrated that the teller was unable to understand him due to the mask. He left the bank in anger, but was later arrested.

Despite the robbery attempt, Wells Fargo has required customers to wear masks, and masks are also required now at Bank of America.

JPMorgan Chase said its employees are required to wear masks, but in regards to customers wearing masks, the bank would comply with local ordinances.

Should bank customers be allowed to shed the mask for identification purposes, or by choice, or be mandated to wear masks in the bank at all time to avoid risk of infection? It's a tough call.

Technology keeps robberies at bay

The threat of a bank robbery is usually thwarted these days by increased technology and video surveillance both inside and outside a bank branch.

According to the Washington Post report, the FBI statistics for U.S. bank robberies in 2018 was 2,975, which is down from 7,556 in 2004. The credit for the decrease can go to technology. Bank robberies are currently at the lowest level they have been in three decades, according to the American Bankers Association. But are we putting the branch, the staff and the customers at risk in complying with the mask mandate?

Bank officials seem less concerned with the issue of a physical bank robber turning up than the constant threat of an anonymous hacker able to breach their firewalls and network. That for them is the real threat. And these hackers and cybercriminals don't need masks: with skimmers, black boxes, malware, laptops and chatbots, they can easily infiltrate a system and be gone before a network is aware it's been compromised.

And maybe that is exactly why the mask issue won't be an issue at all for the bank. Instead of robberies in brick-and-mortar, the concern will be data stealing in network platforms.

Although many bank branch lobbies still remain closed, at some point they will reopen, and it's at that point that bank managers and staff will have to determine which is the greater risk, getting COVID-19 or being robbed? And if they chose COVID-19, what new security measures will they put in place? Will there be in-bank security, plexiglass windows to protect against coronavirus transmissions, interactive tellers or even high-tech scanning machines to determine a customer's temperature, or if customers are carrying weapons?

And if banks take a stronger stand on security, will that encourage customers into the branch or only further transition them to digital means of banking?

Although some of those suggestions may seem extreme, remember, just four short months ago none of us would have ever believed something had the power to not only shut down our country, but the entire world.

Will digital transitions be the norm post-pandemic?

Banks continue to promote drive-through windows, online banking options and mobile phone apps, but is this omnichannel banking model a deterrent to providing a personal customer connection? Can that personal customer experience still be given through a mask?

The Independent Community Bankers of America said in the report that it's encouraging members to provide masks for employees and customers. It's a "risk-based decision," said Steven Estep, director of operational risk at the trade group.

But even when required to wear a mask [within the branch], customers could be asked to remove them long enough to be identified, he said. And if they are asked to remove them, doesn't it go back to the risk of spreading the coronavirus again?

This concept of banking security and wearing masks is one that will go on as long as the pandemic continues to surge and customers are mandated to wear them in retail establishments, restaurants and banks.

If you're part of a branch bank staff, what are your thoughts on the mask issue? How are you/staff handling it? How will you/staff verify the banking customer on-screen is the one behind the mask? Are you worried for security reasons that this issue could open up your facility to a robbery?

Send me an email or drop a text at the social media tags below. I am interested in hearing your thoughts.

And if you see a guy that's over six feet, wearing a Yankee's cap and a surgical mask at your bank branch, just nod hello, it could be my brother. But just don't mention anything negative about Batman— he still takes it pretty personally.

Stay safe. Stay well.