Bid to Soothe Upset Customers : Many Brokerages to Be Open on Weekend

A sizable part of the securities industry will remain on the job today, offering investors the chance to ask the kind of questions that they couldn’t get answered during the week because their brokers were too busy.

In what appeared to be a public relations gesture as well as the need to resolve an unprecedented number of trade discrepancies and other backlogs, several major brokerages announced plans to remain open to the public and some trading exchanges instructed their member firms to work through the day.

Indeed, the weekend schedule is putting a damper on the annual gathering of the National Securities Traders Assn., which starts today in Palm Desert.

“We’re going to have a much smaller convention than we anticipated,” said John Watson of New York, president of the 6,500-member group. “A lot of our members have been told to go into work Saturday.”

Among the major national brokerage houses keeping Saturday hours are Shearson Lehman Bros., E. F. Hutton, Merrill Lynch, Paine Webber and Dean Witter. But investors looking for advice over the weekend would do well to phone before making an actual visit to a brokerage.

The unusual weekend hours were apparently an effort to assuage irritated customers who had trouble reaching their brokers and executing trades last week.

“Our rationale for keeping the longer hours was that we felt there are a lot of people out there who are either confused and concerned about what happened previously in the week,” explained Robert C. Altemus, director of sales and marketing for Shearson’s southwest division, which includes Southern California. “They needed someone to talk to and they were not able to get through. . . . We’re trying to position ourselves as financial consultants to talk to in good times and bad times.

However, some found the strategy puzzling.

“From what I heard from some larger firms, it occurs to me they ought to close on the weekend to get caught up on their business,” said Donald W. Crowell, managing partner at Crowell, Weedon & Co. of Los Angeles, which will not be open to the public. “What amazes me is that they are advertising to be open tomorrow (today) to try to attract business, which will compound their problems.”

Switchboards will be open at some regional brokerages. But most, like Crowell, Weedon; Bateman Eichler, Hill Richards; Seidler Amdec Securities and Morgan, Olmstead, Kennedy & Gardner will not be open to the public Saturday.

Charles Schwab & Co., the discount brokerage, is tripling the staff it typically has on hand at its national trading center on Saturday and Sundays. Some branches will be open all weekend but others will be open just one weekend day or the other.

Fidelity Investments, a discount brokerage and mutual fund, said its four branch offices in downtown Los Angeles, Century City, Newport Beach and San Diego will open Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Most segments of the securities industry started early and finished late each day this week, but the unprecedented trading volumes still overtaxed the system. Though the telephones quieted down Friday as trading ebbed and markets closed early, industry officials say it will be days before the stress and the workload return to normal.

The National Assn. of Securities Dealers, operators of the over-the-counter market, ordered its 6,700 member securities firms to “bring in the appropriate number of people” over the weekend to handle unresolved trades and other internal work. The firms have about 440,000 sales people.

The Pacific Stock Exchange called in its entire equity trading staff for a full weekend of catch-up work, while the American Stock Exchange instructed each member firm, traders and specialist units to send a representative to the exchange. They will be working in the “D K room,” which stands for “don’t know,” the place where trading discrepancies are cleared up.

Even banks are working late, but with a different motive. Security Pacific National Bank, apparently sensing a chance to capture some extra investment dollars because of the sour stock market, will keep its 602 California branches open until 8 p.m. each day next week so customers can come in and “discuss their investment options.”