Banks reopen; patrons show
no sign of chaotic behavior
By Heather Mangold
City
Editor
Local banks did not experience the degree of chaos
that was felt across the nation by Tuesday's terrorist attacks in Washington,
D.C., and New York.
Vice president of Purdue Employee Federal Credit
Union, Steve McQueen, said, "We didn't have any unusual activity or
unusual withdrawals. We kept our normal operation hours because we could
not find a real business issue as to why we should close. Our day was
very, very typical of any other Tuesday that we've had in the past."
Bank One in downtown Lafayette did not close its
doors either. Nancy Norris, a spokesperson for Bank One, said, "We had
no drastic changes. We had some isolated cases where some customers
wanted to withdraw large amounts of money but our advice was that their
money was safest in the bank."
Norris said it is not safe to carry around large
amounts of cash.
The doors of Civitas Bank and Lafayette Bank and
Trust remained open as well.
According to the Associated Press, the U.S. and
allies pledged that central banks would work together to keep the terrorist
attacks from disrupting the American economy in other parts of the nation.
"We are committed to ensuring that this tragedy
will not be compounded by disruption to the global economy," said the
statement issued by the Group of Seven nations.
The statement also said finance ministers and central
bank presidents of the world's seven wealthiest nations would make sure
that sufficient money was supplied to major banks in the United States
to avoid disturbance.
The statement partnered a similar one made by the
Federal Reserve on Tuesday.
Chairman Alan Greenspan and his colleagues issued
a joint statement suggesting that the U.S. central bank stood ready
to supply additional cash to U.S. banks in need.
The amount of money issued to banks in need on
Tuesday is expected to be reported today, according to the Associated
Press.
Economists have suggested that the terrorist attacks
in Washington, D.C., and New York could alter consumer confidence to
such a degree that the already wavering U.S. economy could fall into
a recession — dragging other nations down with it
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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