POSTED: 11:18 a.m. EDT April 23, 2003
UPDATED: 7:00 a.m. EDT April 24, 2003
PHILADELPHIA -- Customers were back in line at dawn Thursday as a Chinatown bank braced for the second day of a bank run.
The president of Abacus Federal Savings, on 10th street near Arch Street, also is scheduled to be at the bank Thursday morning to speak with employees and the media.
Fears of financial problems sent hundreds of people rushing to the bank Thursday demanding their money.
The old-fashioned bank run was sparked by reports that a manager at a related bank in New York City's Chinatown was being investigated. WNBC in New York reported that the employee was under investigation for taking $1 million from the bank.
Few in the crowd, waiting to withdraw their savings or empty their safe-deposit boxes, spoke English, further complicating the situation. Some customers also wore facial masks as a protective measure against SARS.
Managers at Abacus' Philadelphia branch insisted that the bank is solvent and pleaded with customers to go home, but were met with either angry shouts or stony silence from patrons who refused to budge from a block-long line.
"This is like a rumor from New York -- a rumor saying our bank going to close. But we have six branches -- four in New York and one in New Jersey and one in Pennsylvania," said Joe Wong of Abacus Federal Savings.
The facility in Philadelphia ran out of cash shortly after 12:00 p.m. Wednesday. By 4 p.m., another $1 million in cash arrived at the bank from the Federal Reserve.
But people were still waiting at 5:30 p.m. when the bank closed. Police handed out numbered tickets to those in line so that when the bank reopened Thursday morning they don't have to go to the end of the line.
Slideshow: Pictures Of The Bank Run
Several said they had come after hearing from a friend or relative in New York that there were problems at the bank. Almost none understood that bank deposits are insured by the government.
"Everyone's nervous," said Kyon Kong, of Philadelphia. "There are rumors. People want their money."
On Tuesday, hundreds of Chinatown residents in New York rushed another branch of the same bank after notices were posted outside announcing that the former branch manager was being investigated for involvement in "account irregularity."
Dozens of police officers were called in to control the crowd outside bank branch in New York. Customers were allowed into the bank until it closed at 4 p.m.
Copyright 2003 by NBC10.com The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
