By Andrew R. Johnson, Matthias Rieker, Liz Moyer and Christian
Berthelsen
Financial companies gradually resumed operations and reopened
facilities on the East Coast Tuesday as Superstorm Sandy made its
way west.
While the worst of the storm's impact had subsided in New York
City by midday, businesses with significant operations in and
around Lower Manhattan's financial district continued to grapple
with wind damage and extensive flooding that threatened to keep
transportation systems down for days and tunnels to New Jersey and
Brooklyn closed.
American Express Co. (AXP) hadn't yet decided whether it would
reopen Wednesday its headquarters in the World Financial Center
near the Hudson River, a spokesman said Tuesday morning.
The credit-card company had closed its headquarters and other
offices in the Tri-State area on Monday and Tuesday as the storm
made its way up the East Coast.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), whose headquarters are also near
the Hudson, were reviewing accessibility to its tower at 200 West
St. Neither that building nor Goldman offices across the Hudson in
Jersey City, N.J., experienced notable damage, the company
said.
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) shut three New York City-area
office locations Tuesday and urged employees in the storm-ravaged
region to work remotely.
Chase branches in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, areas
hit by widespread flooding, downed trees and power outages, would
be closed Tuesday and branch employees would hear from their
managers about when the branches would reopen.
J.P. Morgan's headquarters at 270 Park Avenue and seven other
office locations in and around New York were open Tuesday,
according to an internal memorandum to employees reviewed by Dow
Jones Newswires.
Seven office locations in the Tri-State area may be experiencing
power issues because of utility power outages, the memo said. The
office locations that closed Tuesday include 4 New York Plaza, One
Chase Manhattan Plaza in New York City and 575 Washington Blvd. in
Jersey City, N.J.
Citigroup Inc. (C) also said its downtown Manhattan capital
markets and investment banking operations were without power but
the bank hoped the building, with its massive trading floors, would
be accessible in the next two days.
The investment banking headquarters on Greenwich Street
sustained minor flooding, and the attached building with the
trading floors is running on a generator, the bank said in a
memorandum to employees working in the regions affected by
Hurricane Sandy. Citi's administrative building on Wall Street was
also without power and affected by flooding, the bank said. "We
anticipate this building will remain unavailable for several
days."
The bank said remote access directly to employees' desktops is
currently unavailable. "Staff should use the Citi Application
Portal to log in remotely," the memo said.
"We are prepared for the re-opening of the markets, and will
utilize our back-up locations to ensure continuity of operations
until our staff can return to our Lower Manhattan offices," a
spokeswoman said.
The outages came as Citi and other banks gradually began
reopening branches on the East Coast.
Citi was aiming to open retail bank branches in Washington,
Virginia, Maryland and Massachusetts Tuesday afternoon, though its
branches in New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and
Delaware remained closed, as did those of other large banks.
Bank of America Corp. (BAC) said Tuesday branches in Maine, New
Hampshire and upstate New York were scheduled to open while those
in the New York City metro area, Westchester County, Long Island,
State Island, northern Virginia, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New
Jersey and other states were closed.
The bank also said it would refund fees for customers using
other banks' ATMs to withdraw cash "in the hardest hit states."
The second-largest bank by assets said its offices at Two and
Four World Financial centers were closed Tuesday, though its main
New York office at 1 Bryant Park was open.
Many banks have waived various fees, such as late payment
penalties on credit cards and small business loans and mortgages
for customers affected by the storm.
PNC Financial Services Group Inc. (PNC), of Pittsburgh, said its
branches in central and northern New Jersey and the New Jersey
coastline, and in New York City's Manhattan remained closed, but
southern New Jersey and Delaware branches that were closed because
of the storm opened Tuesday morning.
Capital One Financial Corp. (COF) said the majority of branches
in Northern Virginia, Maryland and Washington, opened at noon
Tuesday. Six branches in Maryland and nine in Virginia remained
closed, as did branches in New York, New Jersey and
Connecticut.
Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) said more than 770 of its branches
in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Delaware,
Maryland, and Washington remained closed Tuesday.
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 Bank Corp. (MTB), 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 were scheduled to open later Tuesday. Its upstate New
York and northern Virginia branches opened on schedule.
Legg Mason Inc. (LM) Tuesday reopened its Baltimore headquarters
and offices in midtown Manhattan, although many of its 3,000
employees continued to work remotely. Legg's offices in harder-hit
Lower Manhattan--where back-office tasks like fund administration
are handled--remains closed and without power, however, according
to an email sent to employees.
-Mia Lamar contributed to this story.
Write to Andrew R. Johnson, Matthias Rieker, Liz Moyer and
Christian Berthelsen at andrew.r.johnson@dowjones.com,
matthias.rieker@dowjones.com, liz.moyer@dowjones.com and
christian.berthelsen@dowjones.com