The Ministry of Health and Welfare and eight other government agencies jointly issued a directive requiring the wearing of masks beginning from 1 December 2020 at the business places of banks, securities firms, insurance companies, and other such locations with a high risk of COVID-19 transmission. On that same day, the FSC forwarded this directive to the various financial industry trade associations and instructed the trade associations to disseminate the directive to their member institutions and require their compliance.