In this era of the Coronavirus pandemic, wearing a face mask may cause bank customers unable to withdraw money from their accounts through the ATM.
The reason is that some banks' ATMs have face recognition features embedded in them which automatically triggers service failure when the face is covered. In an advisory to their customers, some banks have advised their customers to remove their face masks when carrying out transactions through Automated Teller Machines to ensure that their faces are properly recognised. While the banks have introduced the wearing of face masks as a condition to enter the banking halls, they have also advised customers to remove it when they want to withdraw money from ATMs. In an email to its customers on measures to keep transactions protected, Fidelity Bank said, “Wearing of face masks is a safety and precautionary measure we must all adhere to in this period of the COVID-19 pandemic. “However, we advise that you remove your face mask while making withdrawals or carrying out ATM transactions to allow our ATM properly recognise you. “Fidelity Bank ATM machines have face detection features installed to curb incidences of fraudulent ATM withdrawals. “Consequently, you may not be able to carry out any transaction if our ATMs are not able to properly recognise you. We apologise for the inconvenience that this may cause you.”