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Efforts to track the money flow of criminals – in place before Sept. 11 — were almost totally revamped in the years following the attacks.
September 9 -
New York bankers have indelible memories where they were and what they were doing during the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Whether working in a high rise down the street from the World Trade Center or attending a convention in the Rockies, each remembers how events of that day have shaped his life and world. Following are some of their reflections.
September 9 -
As the United States commemorates the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attack, the financial community, among many others, is taking time to reflect on those lost. We should also remember how difficult it must be for their surviving families.
September 8 -
It was impossible to estimate the loss of life Tuesday when two planes crashed into the twin towers of New York's World Trade Center. But when those giant buildings crumbled to the ground, it's likely many people in the financial services business were killed.
September 12 -
Thomas OBrien, the president of Atlantic Bank of New York, watched the World Trade Centers twin towers collapse from the banks headquarters in Midtown Manhattan. But most of his friends and family, as well as the general public, assumed that he and other Atlantic Bank employees had met their fate on Tower Twos top floor.
September 17 -
Jimmy Dunne talks about right-hand issues and left-hand issues. And when he switches back and forth between those two classes of concern his tone and demeanor change.
September 20 -
The devastating loss of lives in the attack on the World Trade Center robbed many community bankers of their closest relationships with the investment community, relationships in which boutique firms like Sandler ONeill & Partners LP and Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Inc. often played a key role.
September 28 -
We have waded deep into an awkward stage of the mourning process.
September 11
From the perspective of New York's community bankers, 9/11 bred an era of caution and governmental oversight that will not go away anytime soon.
The bankers, many with their own personal stories of the tragedy, said in interviews last week that the lessons learned a decade ago extend far beyond the banking industry.
"After 9/11, all of us became much more conservative overnight," said Thomas L. Hoy, the chairman, president and chief executive of Arrow Financial Corp. in Glens Falls, N.Y.
Louis J. Cappelli, the chairman and CEO of Sterling Bancorp in New York, echoed Hoy's thoughts, saying that 9/11 "taught us to be prepared and not to have all of our eggs in one basket."
The changes went beyond the philosophical.
Congress forced bankers to completely reassess how they conduct business, mostly through the Patriot Act and amendments to the Bank Secrecy Act. The cost of doing business also rose with a heavier presence of regulators and a newfound need to solidify disaster-recovery plans.
Overall, the industry in 2011 bears little resemblance to itself before the attacks, community bankers said.
"The Patriot Act had an extraordinary impact on the entire industry nationwide," said Michael P. Smith, the president and CEO of the New York Bankers Association.
"There are certain areas [of the Act relating to secrecy and recordkeeping] in which it has created extreme difficulty with all the reporting requirements, in terms of dealing with duplicative systems, back-up systems, where systems are located and whether they need to be moved or not."
Several community bankers said they spend considerably more for information technology, especially when it comes to security software and disaster recovery.
"Every part of American society is more sensitive now to backup and continuity planning," said Edward Grebow, the president and CEO of Amalgamated Bank in New York. "Those things existed a decade ago, but they were not nearly as important to us as today. No bank today would operate without a backup plan."
The many new requirements have proven to be a big burden for many smaller banks.
"There's a cost of doing businesses that has skyrocketed," said Thomas M. O'Brien, the president and CEO of State Bancorp Inc. in Jericho, N.Y. "To say its excessive is an understatement."
Beyond new technical requirements, 9/11 resulted in structural economic changes that have had important implications for banks, said Joseph R. Ficalora, the president and CEO of New York Community Bancorp Inc. in Westbury, N.Y.
Today's economic woes would probably feel considerably different, were it not for the lasting effects of the terrorist attacks.
"One of our biggest responses was to stimulate the economy, which just forced us into an elongated positive credit cycle," Ficalora said. "They hyped the economy. I'd say that had there never been a 9/11, the cycle likely would have turned in 2003 or 2004 and it would have been far more manageable."
Relationships between bankers and customers have also changed dramatically.
"Today, customers are less loyal to their banks and banks are less loyal to their customers," Grebow said. "You don't know your customers as well as you did a decade ago."
Change is par for the course in business. Clients come and go. Money is made and lost. Rivals go out of business and new rivals emerge. Bankers can adjust to such changes. What cannot be altered is the loss of family members, friends and colleagues.
John A. Kanas, who in 2001 was the chairman, president and CEO of North Fork Bancorp. in Melville, N.Y., said he knew about 75 people who died in the 9/11 attacks. (North Fork was sold in 2006 to Capital One Financial Corp. in McLean, Va.)
"It was a very, very emotional day," recalled Kanas, who is now the chairman, president and CEO of BankUnited Inc. in Miami Lakes, Fla.
"It made everyone who went through it up close very appreciative of life. It had an influence on what is important in life and what's not. It amplified the fact that life can change very quickly and end very quickly."
