Yes, your bank is required to comply with the procedures for branch closings under the Illinois Promissory Note and Bank Holiday Act for a special closure that is outside of your bank’s regular weekly closures.
The Illinois Promissory Note and Bank Holiday Act permits banks to close on a specified list of holidays, 12:00 noon on Saturdays, and all day on Sundays. Although the first day of January is listed as a holiday, the last day of December is not. Therefore, we believe your bank is required to comply with the Act’s procedures by sending a copy of a resolution adopted by the board of directors of your bank authorizing the bank to close at noon on December 31 to the Secretary of the IDFPR. Your bank also must post a notice of its intent to remain closed on the specified occasion in the lobby of your main banking office and any branches for at least three weeks in advance of the closing.
Additionally, we confirmed with a representative of the IDFPR that your bank will need to repeat these steps for each closure outside of normal business hours. Thus, if you wish to close at noon on December 31 annually, you must repeat this process for each year as needed (i.e., whenever New Year’s Eve does not fall on a Saturday or Sunday).
For resources related to our guidance, please see:
- Promissory Note and Bank Holiday Act, 205 ILCS 630/17(a) (“The following days shall be legal holidays in the State of Illinois upon which day a bank may, but is not required to, remain closed: the first day of January (New Year's Day). . . .”)
- IDFPR 2018 Bank Holiday Schedule (“In addition to the holidays cited above, banks are authorized to close at 12:00 noon on each Saturday and all day on Sunday. A bank may also select one additional day of the week to remain closed by following the procedures outlined in Section 17(b) of the Promissory Note and Bank Holiday Act [205 ILCS 630/17(b)].”)
- Promissory Note and Bank Holiday Act, 205 ILCS 630/17(c) (“If an occasion arises when a state bank wishes to remain closed on a particular day, other than a day on which the bank has selected to remain closed on a regular basis as provided in this Section, such state bank may remain closed on such an occasion after first sending to the Commissioner a copy of a resolution adopted by the board of directors authorizing the bank to remain closed on such occasion and notice of the intent to remain closed on such occasion shall be conspicuously posted in the lobby of the main banking office and any branches of such bank for at least 3 weeks in advance of such occasion. Any day which any bank doing business within the State shall select to remain closed pursuant to this Section shall, with respect to such bank, be treated and considered as a Sunday.”)
- Illinois Banking Act, 205 ILCS 5/2 (“‘Commissioner’ means the Commissioner of Banks and Real Estate, except that beginning on April 6, 2009 (the effective date of Public Act 95-1047), all references in this Act to the Commissioner of Banks and Real Estate are deemed, in appropriate contexts, to be references to the Secretary of Financial and Professional Regulation.”)