Bankers' hours expand to Sundays

Rowe used to have to scurry to the bank during his lunch hour, he said. But then TD Bank expanded its hours, a huge convenience for people like Rowe with hectic schedules.

"Sunday is my day to cash my checks and pay my bills," said Rowe, 25, after doing just that at a TD Bank branch in Seabrook, N.H., just across the Massachusetts border.

So much for bankers' hours. Some of the region's biggest financial institutions are expanding hours on Sundays to cater to busy customers who, even in the era of online-all-the-time, still want to be able to walk into a bank, whenever and wherever.

TD Bank, for example, plans to open 155 of its 161 branches in Massachusetts on Sundays, beginning Oct. 4, up from five branches today.

And Citizens Bank, which started opening seven-day-a-week branches in grocery stores a decade ago, said that nearly half of its 251 Massachusetts outlets are now open every day, and it is considering adding more.

Even federal holidays are no longer sacred. TD Bank, for instance, said it plans to observe just four holidays a year at the branches: New Year's, Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.

Several factors are driving the moves. Some customers work long hours or have grueling commutes, leaving little time for errands. Others like the convenience of being able to bank on their own schedule, not the bank's, and are used to being able to do everything else on Sundays. And some business owners say they can't wait until the next weekday to make change or to de posit a pile of checks.

"I would not bank at a bank if it was not open on Sunday. Period. End of sentence," said Mike Becker, a real estate agent and landlord who stopped by a Citizens outlet in the Danvers Stop & Shop last Sunday to withdraw money on his way to the beach.

Sunday banking hours would have been unthinkable several decades ago, when many banks were open only during the week. And the state's blue laws long barred retailers and banks from opening on Sundays.

The big development came in 1996, when Massachusetts legislators allowed state-chartered banks to offer Sunday hours, after some federally regulated institutions opened branches in supermarkets on Sundays.

"If you are going to be convenient . . . you need to be open seven days," said Hal Tovin, who oversees Citizens Bank's branches in supermarkets and other retail outlets. Tovin said it also makes sense to open Citizens' grocery store outlets on Sundays, since the stores are open that day.

Suzanne Poole, executive vice president for retail banking at TD Bank, said the Sunday hours are more than worth the extra expense, even if every branch isn't crowded on the weekends. Her company typically opens branches for just four hours on Sundays.

In other parts of the country where it has added hours, such as Virginia and Maryland, the bank found that fewer customers closed accounts and more opened new ones because they liked knowing they could stop by the bank on Sundays, Poole said. Indeed, TD Bank typically draws more customers in a few hours on a Sunday than it does all day on a Tuesday, traditionally the slowest day of the week.

"We didn't do this on a leap of faith," Poole said. "We found better hours translated to more customers."

Still, some major banks eschew Sunday hours, saying there isn't enough customer demand to justify them.

Sovereign Bank, for example, has two of 233 Massachusetts branches open on Sundays - in Canton and Plymouth. And Bank of America, the largest bank in Massachusetts and nationwide, doesn't have any.

Bank of America said it has developed other ways to serve customers on weekends, including through its website and extensive ATM network.

"We are finding more of our customers are using online banking and mobile banking," said bank spokeswoman Anne Pace. "We're seeing an increase in customers using those tools."

But even as consumers increasingly access their money online, some banks say they have seen only a slight drop in traffic at their branches. Some people feel more secure making a deposit in person. Others want change or another transaction that is difficult to do with an ATM.

Eastern Bank said it decided to offer Sunday hours at 10 of its 80 locations, typically in busy shopping centers or other locations scattered throughout its territory. But executives said it doesn't make sense to open every Eastern branch on Sunday, as most would be empty and customers can go to a different branch that is open.

"You are spending a lot of money and not getting a lot of return," said Joseph Riley, executive vice president of retail banking for Eastern Bank.

And if a bank makes money on Sundays, it takes time - about nine months before the new business justifies the extra hours, said Poole. TD Bank began offering Sunday hours at the Seabrook branch in October, and even now traffic is slight; there was only a trickle of customers one recent Sunday.

Eric Blanchet, head teller at the Seabrook branch, said Sundays are slow because so few customers know it's open that day. He expects that to change once TD Bank more widely promotes its Sunday hours.

The branches TD Bank doesn't plan to open on Sundays in Massachusetts are typically located in downtown office buildings that are locked on weekends. Sunday hours are also a key way for banks such as Citizens and TD Bank to distinguish themselves from competitors.

Before TD Bank started opening on Sundays in Seabrook, Bob Fournier, who co-owns Chef Howie's Hobo Cafe and Lounge in Salisbury Beach, said he used to have to beg for change at nearby grocery stores. "This has been a big help for us," he said.

Todd Wallack can be reached at twallack@globe.com.