10-to-3 Bankers Hours Long Gone; Saturday Is In

This is one war that consumers are winning, at least on the surface.

As of Monday, four of the five biggest banks in California have announced plans to open their branches on Saturdays, beginning April 15. All four have also extended their weekday hours.

Only First Interstate, the state’s fourth-largest bank, remains a holdout in the game of one-upmanship. A spokesman said only that the Los Angeles bank was “aware of what our competitors are doing.”

What the big banks are doing is battling for consumer loyalty by eradicating all traces of the traditional 10-to-3 banker’s hours.

It all started early last month when Wells Fargo announced that its branches would be open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays. Within two weeks, Security Pacific responded by extending hours at its branches on Mondays and Fridays, opening at 9 a.m. and closing at 7 p.m.

Last Thursday, Bank of America upped the stakes considerably. The state’s largest bank said its branches will be open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays and 9 a.m. until 6 p.m. on Fridays.

On Friday, Security Pacific, the second-largest California bank, said it will also be open on Saturdays from 9 to 1.

No. 3 Wells Fargo and No. 5 Union Bank joined the Saturday lineup Monday, announcing that they will open their branches from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays. Union also will extend its hours to 6 p.m. on Fridays.

These will not be skeleton crews. All four institutions said full service will be available in the extended weekday hours and on Saturdays. Wells Fargo plans to add the equivalent of 200 full-time positions for Saturday operations. The other banks have not said whether they will add personnel.

Response to Competition

Bankers acknowledge two motivations for the moves. Customers, they say, like the ability to go to the bank after work, and customer surveys have found a desire for Saturday banking. Also, however, the bankers concede that competition is a big incentive.

“Our particular move right now to Saturdays is responding to the competition,” said William F. Zuendt, a vice chairman of San Francisco-based Wells Fargo.

Richard K. Davis, a senior vice president at Security Pacific in Los Angeles, said plans were on the drawing board to open on Saturdays at the end of May in response to customer surveys. But the schedule was moved up by B of A’s announcement.

On one level, this is a boon for consumers, particularly two-income families that have trouble getting to bank during working hours. But industry analysts said the longer hours may be a substitute for paying higher interest on consumer deposits.

“It is not entirely clear that there is a lot of demand for these longer hours,” said Donald K. Crowley, an analyst in the San Francisco office of Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, an investment firm specializing in banks. “I wonder if they are substituting service for (higher) interest rates.”

Indeed, California banks pay among the lowest interest rates in the nation on money market accounts. A survey by Bank Rate Monitor, a Palm Beach, Fla., firm, found that Los Angeles had the second-lowest yield on money market accounts among 10 major metropolitan areas last week.

California bankers argue that the lower interest rates reflect the greater convenience for customers. The state’s big banks have more branches and automated teller machines than almost any institutions nationwide, and maintaining them is expensive.

It also is cheaper to extend the hours at those branches than to raise interest rates on deposit accounts, and the banks are counting on their customers opting for convenience.

“It may cost banks millions of dollars to open on Saturdays, but the California banks are making extra millions of dollars because they have not raised their money market interest rates to where they are elsewhere in the country,” said Stephen Berman, an analyst in New York with the investment firm of County NatWest Securities.

In fact, bankers say, the new hours are not nearly as costly as they would have been a few years ago. Most big banks rely heavily on part-time tellers and flexible work schedules, which allow them to extend hours without adding costly personnel.

Wells Fargo has the most experience with longer hours; the bank’s Sacramento offices have been open until 6 p.m. on weekdays for the past year. Zuendt said operating costs have not gone up and customer traffic has been heavier than anticipated.

Surprisingly, Wells Fargo has found that the longer hours have not decreased customer use of ATMs.

“What we found out was that it wasn’t a replacement for the ATM,” he said. “People are coming into the bank and doing other kinds of business.”

Davis at Security Pacific echoed that assessment. The extended hours on Mondays and Fridays mean that customers now spend more time in the bank, which gives employees a chance to discuss new products with them, he said.

BANKERS’ HOURS

* Bank of America is open 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 9-6 on Friday, effective April 10. Beginning April 15, Saturday hours will be 9-1.

* Security Pacific is now open 9-6 on Mondays and Fridays, and 9-4 Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Saturday hours will be 9-1 beginning April 15.

* Wells Fargo is now open 9-6 every weekday. Beginning April 15, branches will be open 9-1 on Saturday.

* Effective April 10, Union Bank will be open 9-4 Monday through Thursday; 9-6 Friday and 9-1 on Saturday.

* First Interstate is generally open 10-4 weekdays and is closed Saturday.