STRATEGIC PARTNERS
December 11, 2001
NEW YORK -- Two major banks shut their New York City branches and people lined up at ATMs on Sept. 11 following the terrorist attack that destroyed the twin towers of the World Trade Center, according to a Reuters report.
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. shut all its branches in Manhattan and there were long lines at some of its ATMs, a Chase spokesman said.
FleetBoston Financial Corp. closed its 173 branches in metropolitan New York for the day, including 18 branches in Manhattan, said Fleet spokesman Dennis Schain. A later report indicated that Fleet planned to re-open most of its branches today, with the exception of those in lower Manhattan and possibly some other New York branches.
Seven Fleet ATMs were out of service on Sept. 11 due to technical problems which may have been related to the morning attack, Schain said.
But Fleet, which operates 123 ATMs around Manhattan, did not experience a spike in the number of customers withdrawing cash from ATMs as a result of attacks, he said.
Citigroup Inc., which evacuated its branch staff working in the plaza level of the World Trade Center and nearby buildings yesterday, said it was putting contingency plans in place for offices in lower Manhattan.
In a news release, Bank of America indicated that it provided normal services for customers throughout the day on Sept. 11 in most markets throughout its franchise.
As a precautionary measure, BofA, the nation's largest consumer bank, closed all of its offices in Washington, D.C. and northern Virginia and at large towers in some major cities, including Seattle, San Francisco and Atlanta.
Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America sent its workers in Charlotte home for the day, as did First Union, now part of the new Wachovia Corp., the nation's fourth-largest bank.
"As a result of the fact that Charlotte is the second-largest financial center, we will make every effort for safety," First Union spokeswoman Ginny Mackin said of the employee exodus. "We're taking this measure in an abundance of caution."
First Union said all 48 of its trade center employees in New York got out of the building safely.
BofA did limit the size of withdrawals at some of its ATMs if vendors that serviced the machines were unable to replenish the currency on a timely basis, according to the bank's release.
"All of our operating systems and data located at the World Trade Center are backed up at alternate locations and is intact. Rumors that surfaced early in the day about a meeting of executives at the World Trade Center were inaccurate; no such meeting occurred today. Our entire Operating Committee is accounted for and safe," according to the release.
