Our employees, customers and communities have been significantly impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. At First Bankers Trust Company, we are proactively doing our part to help limit the spread of the virus, while supporting the needs of our customers and employees.

We understand that you have questions and are looking for more information on the steps that we are taking to best serve our employees and customers during this time. 

Here is what you should know:

Updates to Branch Operations

The updates we’ve made to our branch operations are the areas that impact our customers the most. While challenging, these adjustments are always focused on how to best serve our customers. Most importantly, your accounts and our business remain stable and strong.

  • We temporarily closed our Koch’s Lane and Macomb East (Jackson St.) branch locations. This temporary change was made due to positive COVID-19 cases or potential exposures with our employees. This action was taken to give us an opportunity to proactively plan for continuing banking operations if there were to be additional positive cases in the future.
  • We’ve established Reserve Teams within our business, so if there were a positive case, we are quickly able to deploy the reserve team of employees to the affected branch. While this means that Koch’s Lane and Macomb East will have their temporary closures, this ensures that we are minimizing the risk of another branch needing to close for an extended amount of time.
  • Our lobbies are now available by appointment. This was done early as a precaution to limit in-person interaction.
  • Our branch hours have been adjusted at multiple branches to reflect the traffic at each location.

Protecting Our Employees

The safety of our employees is our top priority and many of these changes are taking place behind the scenes.

  • We are prioritizing remote work options for our employees where possible. Currently, more than half of our workforce has been set up to work remotely.
  • We owe a great deal of gratitude to our team for their hard work and dedication. For that reason, we are in the process of hiring additional teller staff and remain committed to offering job stability for our employees. If you or a family member are interested in applying, please visit our job opportunities page.
  • Our HR team is sharing more information and resources regarding COVID-19 and mental health.
  • We’ve heavily invested in supplies to promote safe practices. This includes hand sanitizer, disposable masks, shields and installation of wall mounted thermometers at certain locations.
  • We’ve redeployed team members from their typical roles to fill in where we have a greater need for support and to new office spaces to practice social distancing.
  • We have reinforced exposure protocols with our employees. If we become aware that an employee is sick or had contact with someone who tests positive for COVID-19, we immediately implement our isolation and sanitization procedures.

Improving Online Banking Offering

Now more than ever, our eBanking offering is vital to our customers and we are working diligently to make it as efficient as possible.

  • We are working with our core provider to improve service times.
  • We have added a new alert bar to our website homepage to make announcements more accessible.
  • Digital forms on the website are being updated and expanded to allow for even more digital banking options and efficiencies.
  • Our online account portal experience is getting upgraded in early December.

Looking Ahead

We understand the challenges that these changes may bring, but as we continue to walk through these challenging times, we want our customers and employees to know that we care and will be here for them for many years to come.

“We are constantly monitoring the evolving situation and we remain committed to adapting our responses to keep our employees, their families, and customers safe while continuing to meet their banking needs,” says Allen Shafer, President and CEO.

Please continue to follow First Bankers on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest and bookmark FirstBankers.com to stay up to date.

Thank you.