Banks closed today - violation of federal law?

[BushOut06]

One of my co-workers just said that the banks are closed today because of Ford's funeral, that it's some sort of "federal holiday". I was under the impression that there was a federal law stating that banks could not be closed more than 3 consecutive days. I was wondering, did Bush issue some sort of executive order closing banks and other federal offices? And if so, would this violate any federal laws?

[Tom Joad]

1. This you worry about?

[BushOut06]

5. It was a big deal for my co-worker

He's closing on a house, and apparently his particular bank was closed today because of the Ford funeral.

[Left Is Write]

18. Is it wrong to wonder/worry about banks' business hours?

[Lusted4]

2. Their open around here. nt

[rpgamerd00d]

3. Banks are open here in CT, FYI - nt

[JackBeck]

4. Open here in NYC. n/t

[Cass]

6. My bank was open today. I just returned from there not long ago. nt

edited to add: Florida

[Duer 157099]

7. Aren't they open on Saturday?

If so, even with a Tuesday closing that's only 3 days.

[BushOut06]

11. Dammit - I forgot about that

Stupid facts. I totally forgot that banks are usually open on Saturday, even though I was in one this past Saturday!

[Left Is Write]

17. No business is actually posted on Saturday, though.

Any transactions done on Saturday are posted the following business day, usually Monday. So if we're going by posted transactions, then banks were "closed" on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday this past weekend.

[lse7581011]

8. Open in NH n/t

[napi21]

9. Yes there is a Federal banking law that states banks cannot be

closed for more than 3 consecutive days in a row. It is also true thatthe Feds declared today a National Day of Mourning to honor Pres. Ford. I really don't know which law takes precident.

[madinmaryland]

10. Open in MD. n/t

[wakeme2008]

12. They are open in Va

:shrug:

[wavesofeuphoria]

13. Not sure about banks .. post offices are closed

[sandnsea]

14. Open in OR, that's why

At least that's what I understand. :shrug:

[Left Is Write]

15. My bank is open. I just participated in a discussion about this here yesterday...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x3020794#3020974

[seabeyond]

16. i just got home from the bank. son opened an account

no close here

[Waya]

19. Dunno about the Banks.....

.....but no mail here in PA.

[ronnykmarshall]

20. Banks are not closed.

[onenote]

21. let's get a few facts straight

1. Banks aren't closed today. Not even here in DC

2. Banks weren't closed on Saturday as far as I know.

3. I don't believe there is any federal law barring banks from closing 3 consecutive days.

4. A number of states have bank closing laws, some with 3 day limits. It is my understanding that some of those laws are written in terms of "business days" -- meaning that closing on a Sunday, a national holiday (New Year's Day) or a declared national day of mourining -- doesn't count.

5. Even where written in terms of "days" rather than "business days" some of those laws have exceptions for days that are declared to be national or state days of mourning, celebration, etc.

[BushOut06]

29. See post #9

Looks like there IS a federal law regarding banks being closed consecutive days. I'd heard this before, and was backed up here.

Also, all I can go by is what my co-worker was telling me. He needed to conduct some business at his bank yesterday, and he told me it was closed. Maybe it was just that one particular branch, maybe it was that particular bank, who knows. I'm certainly not going to call my friend a liar.

[onenote]

30. I'd like to see a link

While I don't ascribe any ill-motive to anyone, I think the unsubstantiated claim made in post #9 is mistaken.

[ProfessorGAC]

31. The Law Applies To The Bank's Decisions

The federal gov't can declare a bank holiday despite that law. The law is in place to prevent banks from shutting their doors without explanation to the regulators. The point wasn't really to make things convenient to the consumer, but to prevent the "anti-run" move of shutting the doors when a bank was supposed to be open.

In this case, even if the banks were closed Saturday, they could have closed on Tuesday anyway, since it wasn't a decision on their part to avoid customer transactions or disbursements, but would have been in keeping with federal declarations.

The fact that some banks were open means two things, to me:
1) Some of them had their schedules for tellers and loan folks in place and didn't want to reset it for another day off.
2) Some banks figured that a state funeral just isn't enough reason to shut the doors as it might irritate customers. (There are some folks that just don't care when a former president dies, even if they liked him in the past.)

Just my take.
The Professor

[ellie]

22. My bank is open

here in Ohio. I went at lunch.

[TechBear_Seattle]

23. It is not just banks but all "financial markets" (updated response w/ info)

And, like any law, it can be overridden by another law.

My understanding is that Congress passed, and * signed, the national day of mourning as a law that went immediately into effect. Congress did this similarly after the 9/11 attacks, when the US financial markets were closed for six consecutive business days. I will have to do some research to find out if this really is the case, though.

Added Correction as given by my boss (I work for a brokerage firm): Apparently the old law, passed soon after the Great Crash, prohibits financial markets from closing by their own fiat. Back then, it was not uncommon for a bank to cease operations indefinitely to prevent a run on its assets; such practices helped to create the Crash in the first place by stoking panic that the banks were running out of reserves and you had to get your accounts converted to hard currency or lose it all.

There are exceptions to the three day rule. One exception is an executive order allowing the markets to close. This is how the markets got closed for more than a week after 9/11, and closure was apparently permitted as part of the declaration of a national day of mourning. To restate, the markets were not closed by the President; he merely issued a directive which allowed the markets to close and most have (the bond markets are still open.) Some, but definitely not all, banks have taken this as a holiday as well.

[sarge43]

24. The bank was open here Campton NH n/t

[1gobluedem]

25. My bank and Credit Union were both open

In Michigan.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

26. Yep- I was a banker and we were told that was the law....

n/t

[kestrel91316]

27. Here in LA my banks were both open.

Bank of the West and Washington Mutual.

CAN'T be closed more than three days in a row. Saturday, Sunday, Monday. I thought it was federal law.

[LosinIt]

28. Banks open but no mail, so that check I'm waiting on is still at the post office.

Damn. Not doing me a lot of good there.