Texas Gulf Bank customers can rest assured that their money will remain safe and accessible in the event of a coronavirus outbreak in this country. Texas Gulf Bank has plans in place that we can activate if the situation escalates.

Since 2007, when the H5N1 virus – or avian flu – spread throughout the globe, federal banking regulators have directed financial institutions to include pandemic planning as part of their overall business continuity plans. Texas Gulf Bank has their own unique plan addressing the threat of a pandemic outbreak and its potential impact on the delivery of critical financial services.

Specifically, the plan provides for a preventive program, a documented strategy scaled to the stages of a pandemic outbreak, a comprehensive framework to ensure the continuance of critical operations, a testing program and an oversight program to ensure the plan is reviewed and updated.

Situations we have considered include staffing shortages; increased reliance on online banking, ATMs, and telephone banking; conducting operations from alternative sites; and employee and customer protection strategies, such as hand sanitizers.

The pandemic segment of the business continuity plan is sufficiently flexible to address a wide range of possible effects that could result from a pandemic and is considered reflective of Texas Gulf’s size, complexity and business activities.

Although coronavirus cases in the U.S. are limited so far, Texas Gulf Bank continues to monitor information from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and is reinforcing best health practices in offices and branches.

Finally, we have concerns that unscrupulous individuals and groups will utilize situations such as COVID-19 to target individuals and businesses alike through electronic and telephonic scams.  We strongly urge each of you to be aware of such scams.  Look out for suspicious email and text messages, medical supply scams, fraudulent donation sites or calls that may impersonate a company, charity, or government agency. Their primary intent is to convince you to share sensitive information such as account numbers, social security numbers, usernames, and passwords.  They will attempt to coerce you to make purchases or donations on spoofed websites or download malware onto your device by opening a malicious attachment. If you receive a suspicious email or text message, do not respond or click on any links.  We urge you to not open attachments. Think before you Click.