![\"How](\"https:\/\/www.publicholidaycalendar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/free-photo-of-traveler-with-luggage-in-airport-corridor-3.jpeg\")
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Hello everyone, I am your dedicated public holiday assistant. Recently, a little friend consulted me about the title of how bank holidays are decided<\/b>. Now I will summarize the relevant problems, hoping to help the little friends who want to know.<\/p>\n
Alright, so you\u2019ve probably woken up one morning, grabbed your coffee, and realized the bank is closed. Or maybe you looked at your calendar and saw a random Monday off \u2014 and you wondered, who exactly decides this stuff? Is it the President? Congress? Some mysterious holiday council? Let\u2019s break it down in plain English.<\/p>\n
First off, when people say \u201cbank holidays,\u201d they\u2019re usually talking about federal holidays in the United States. These are days when most government offices, post offices, and yes, banks, shut their doors. But not every day off is a bank holiday, and the decision-making process is more layered than you might think.<\/p>\n
In the U.S., the power to declare a federal holiday lies with Congress. That\u2019s right \u2014 it\u2019s a legislative thing. Congress passes a law, the President signs it, and boom \u2014 the holiday becomes official. For example, Presidents\u2019 Day used to be just George Washington\u2019s birthday, but Congress shifted it to the third Monday in February with the Uniform Monday Holiday Act of 1968. That\u2019s why so many holidays now fall on Mondays \u2014 to give workers three-day weekends.<\/p>\n
But wait, there\u2019s more: not all bank holidays are federal. Some are state-level. For instance, Texas observes Texas Independence Day (March 2) as a state holiday, but banks there might close while banks in New York stay open. And then you\u2019ve got \u201cobserved\u201d holidays \u2014 if a holiday falls on a Saturday, the previous Friday might be observed as the official day off. That\u2019s decided by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) for federal employees, and private banks often follow suit.<\/p>\n
Now, what about holidays that aren\u2019t enshrined in law? Like Good Friday \u2014 it\u2019s not a federal holiday, but many banks, especially in the Northeast, close for it anyway. That\u2019s because individual banks or state banking associations can decide to shut down for cultural or religious reasons. Same with New Year\u2019s Eve \u2014 not a federal holiday, but many banks close early.<\/p>\n
Internationally, it\u2019s a different ballgame. In the UK, bank holidays are set by royal proclamation or legislation \u2014 the Bank Holidays Act of 1871 started it all. The government can also declare extra holidays for special occasions, like the Queen\u2019s Diamond Jubilee. But in the U.S., it\u2019s Congress that typically drives the train.<\/p>\n
So, how does a new holiday get added? Someone has to propose a bill in Congress. The bill goes through committees, hearings, and votes in the House and Senate. If it passes, the President signs it. It doesn\u2019t happen often \u2014 the last new federal holiday was Juneteenth in 2021. Before that, Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 1983. So yeah, it\u2019s a big deal.<\/p>\n
And there\u2019s also the role of the Federal Reserve. Since the Fed closes its payment system on federal holidays, most banks have to close too, even if they wanted to stay open. So the Fed\u2019s holiday schedule basically dictates the national rhythm of banking.<\/p>\n
You might be wondering: \u201cCan a state decide its own bank holidays?\u201d Absolutely. States can add holidays for their own residents. For example, West Virginia has West Virginia Day (June 20) as a state bank holiday. Also, what about emergencies? The President can declare a national day of mourning, but that\u2019s not a recurring bank holiday \u2014 it\u2019s a one-time closure out of respect. And if you\u2019re self-employed? Well, you decide your own holidays, but banks still follow the federal schedule, so plan your deposits accordingly.<\/p>\n
Another common question: \u201cWhy do banks close on holidays that aren\u2019t federal, like Columbus Day?\u201d Actually, Columbus Day is a federal holiday \u2014 it\u2019s observed on the second Monday in October. But some states don\u2019t recognize it, so banks in those states might stay open. It\u2019s a patchwork quilt of rules. Bottom line: check your bank\u2019s local schedule.<\/p>\n
To sum it up: federal holidays are decided by Congress, signed by the President, and then enforced by the Federal Reserve. State holidays are decided by state legislatures. And extra closures \u2014 like for severe weather or local events \u2014 are up to individual banks. So the next time you see a \u201cClosed for Holiday\u201d sign, you\u2019ll know it took a whole chain of decisions to get you that day off.<\/p>\n
public holiday calendar.COM Thank you for reading, I hope this article can help you fully understand how bank holidays are decided<\/b>, if you have more questions, please contact us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hello everyone, I am your dedicated public holiday assistant. Recently, a little friend consulted me about the title of how bank holidays are decided. Now I will summarize the relevant problems, hoping to help the little friends who want to know. Alright, so you\u2019ve probably woken up one morning, grabbed your coffee, and realized the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26968,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","slim_seo":{"title":"How Are Bank Holidays Actually Decided? The Surprising Process Behind Those Days Off - Public Holiday Calendar","description":"Hello everyone, I am your dedicated public holiday assistant. Recently, a little friend consulted me about the title of how bank holidays are decided . Now I wi"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[278],"tags":[27816,15714,27815,19384,27817],"class_list":["post-26969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-bank-holiday-process","tag-federal-holiday-determination","tag-how-bank-holidays-are-decided","tag-us-bank-holiday-schedule","tag-who-decides-bank-holidays"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.publicholidaycalendar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.publicholidaycalendar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.publicholidaycalendar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.publicholidaycalendar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.publicholidaycalendar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26969"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.publicholidaycalendar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26969\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26970,"href":"https:\/\/www.publicholidaycalendar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26969\/revisions\/26970"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.publicholidaycalendar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.publicholidaycalendar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.publicholidaycalendar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.publicholidaycalendar.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}