The five largest banks in Canada announced on Friday that they will impose vaccination against covid-19 for employees who wish to return to work and that those who do not will have to undergo regular tests to detect the disease.
The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), the largest of the so-called Big Five with some 83,000 employees and more than 13,000 branches across the country, said it will start requiring vaccination from October 31.
RBC President and CEO Dave McKay said in a post on Linkedin that the institution sees vaccines “as the best way to keep workplaces safe and to help” reduce transmission of the disease variants. covid-19 “in the communities.
Scotiabank, the country’s second-largest financial institution with 90,000 employees, also said it will require all of its workers in Canada, as well as entrepreneurs linked to the bank, to be immunized.
But this bank did not indicate a specific date for the implementation of the measure and limited itself to indicating that it will be in the fall.
Bank of Montreal (BMO), CIBC and TD Bank have also indicated that the measure will take effect between October 31 and November 1.
BMO noted that “all North American employees and contractors” who are authorized to be vaccinated must be immunized by October 31.
BMO’s US branch, BMO Harris Bank, has some 600 offices and 14,500 employees nationwide.
The announcement of the Big Five in Canada’s banking sector comes days after that country’s government asked federally regulated industries to require their employees to be vaccinated due to the increase in covid-19 cases.
Canada is in the midst of the fourth wave of the pandemic, caused by the delta variant of the virus.
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