NEW ORLEANS, Sept. 2, 2008 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Whitney Holding Corporation (Nasdaq:WTNY) today announced an update on the status of its operations.
Using the knowledge and experience gained from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, Whitney implemented its updated Disaster Recovery Plan as the Company prepared for the impact of Hurricane Gustav. To-date, all aspects of the plan are working. Whitney's first responders were deployed over the weekend and have set up operations at sites in Houston, Dallas, Prattville, AL and Smyrna, GA.
After site evaluations were conducted across the state, select branches in Louisiana will open on Wednesday, September 3rd in Lake Charles, Lafayette and Denham Springs. All Whitney branches in Mississippi have re-opened, as well. With systems functioning as anticipated, back-office and customer contact areas have remained fully operational.
"Whitney is the most operationally resilient it has been in its history," said John C. Hope, III Chairman and CEO. "Following the hurricanes of 2005 and the lessons learned during those events, Whitney relocated its mainframe computer and critical servers to a hardened facility in Dallas and we have a redundant server farm in Atlanta. We also upgraded our communications systems."
"Our immediate concern is for those employees in areas where current communications indicate damage is the worst. Right now we are beginning the process of assessing damages to our branches and facilities to determine which ones in the impacted areas can be opened and those that must remain closed temporarily," said Hope.
Whitney ATMs, Online Banking at whitneybank.com, and the Whitney Information Line, 1-800-844-4450, are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Whitney Holding Corporation, through its banking subsidiary Whitney National Bank, serves the five-state Gulf Coast region stretching from Houston, Texas; across southern Louisiana and the coastal region of Mississippi; to central and south Alabama; the panhandle of Florida; and the Tampa Bay metropolitan area of Florida.
(WTNY-G)