Banks Reopen Branches In Mid-Atlantic Region

By Matthias Rieker

Branch banking in Hurricane Sandy's path came back to life on Tuesday around noon as the storm was moving west and north and banks reopened branches in several states.

Branches in metropolitan New York, however, remain dark.

Citigroup Inc. (C), Capital One Financial Corp. (COF), PNC Financial Services Group Inc. (PNC) and M&T Bank Corp. (MTB) started to open branches in the Mid-Atlantic area Tuesday afternoon, except in areas with travel restrictions in place or power outages.

Many banks have waived various fees, such as late payment penalties on credit card and small business loans and mortgages for customers impacted by the storm.

No big bank reported network outages for automated teller machines, though banks said ATMs won't function in areas with power outages or where branches are damaged. M&T, of Buffalo, N.Y., said as of late morning 60 branches were without power, mainly in the metropolitan New York area.

M&T said its branches in the Hudson Valley of New York, in Philadelphia and the rest of Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Washington D.C. are scheduled to open later Tuesday. Its upstate New York and northern Virginia branches opened on schedule.

PNC, of Pittsburgh, said its branches in central and northern New Jersey and the New Jersey coastline, and in New York City's Manhattan remain closed, but southern New Jersey and Delaware branches that were closed because of the storm opened Tuesday morning.

Capital One said the majority of branches in Northern Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. opened at noon Tuesday. Six branches in Maryland and nine in Virginia remain closed, as do branches in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

Citi's retail bank branches in Washington, D.C., Virginia, Maryland and Massachusetts "are aiming to open this afternoon," the bank said in a memorandum to employees. Branches in New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware remain closed.

Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) said more than 770 of its branches in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. remain closed Tuesday. The nation's fourth-largest bank by assets said some of its automated teller machines in the path of Hurricane Sandy aren't working.

"We are working to service those impacted ATMs as safety permits and local authorities allow," a spokeswoman for the San Francisco bank said.

All J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) branches in the New York metropolitan area remain closed, a spokesman said.

Write to Matthias Rieker at [e-mail]

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