What are banking days and working days - what is their difference and how to count them

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Published: 06.11.2018

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The main working hours at Sberbank PJSC, as in many other banking structures, are limited to a certain interval during which the electronic system operates, into which information about cash settlement transactions for the day is entered and a daily final balance is generated.

• What is a banking day? Banking day for legal entities
• Banking day for individuals

Definition of the concept

Banking day (BD) is not a universal concept, since each financial organization has its own specific “banking days” depending on the specifics of its work. Banking days themselves refer to working hours during which the organization engages in settlement activities and serves clients.

From a legislative point of view, there are no requirements for the database, and therefore each bank has the right to fix the amount of this time period independently. The length of the banking day determines the dating of certain financial procedures, which is a mandatory element of reporting.

Throughout the banking day, accountants prepare reports

In the context of a banking day, such an important phenomenon as the operational and accounting cycle is considered. Information about this cycle should be contained in documents such as:

• accounting reports;
• daily report on the value of property and bank liabilities.

Comparison

Banking day is a period that is somehow present within the working day. An exception may be a scenario when an employee of a financial institution comes to work part-time and works, for example, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. In this case, his working day will be shorter than a banking day, within which he can, if necessary, perform cash transactions.

Thus, the fundamental difference between banking days and working days is that the criterion for determining the first is the specific type of activity of the employee. In this case, this is conducting cash transactions in a bank. In turn, the remaining working time of an employee of a financial institution will not be related to the banking day.

Having determined what the difference is between banking days and working days, we will reflect the criteria we have identified in the table.

The legislation of the Russian Federation (including banking and tax regulations) does not officially interpret the concept of “banking day”.

When using this phrase, experts mean the time period of a specific day of the work week during which employees of a financial institution (bank) carry out payment transactions dated by the current date. Payment transactions mean a significant volume of types of work carried out by bank employees. During the banking day, bank employees receive and serve clients, conduct credit transactions, finance capital investments and conduct cash transactions (acceptance and withdrawal of cash).

In some cases, the duration of the banking period is equated to the total working time of the organization, but more often this term describes the operating hours of a particular bank, since the activities of a financial organization involve the use of technological operations. In this regard, the concepts of “banking” and “operating” day often describe the same time period.

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During operating hours, bank employees accept documents for acceptance or withdrawal of funds, and also process, transfer and execute them. Often, to carry out one or another type of operation, a specialist requests confirmation from employees of higher departments, interacts with colleagues and always depends on the functioning and efficiency of the bank’s operating system. All these factors affect the actual duration and productivity of operating hours.

The approved regulations of a specific financial company establish the hours of the calendar working day, during which all transactions performed are dated on the same day. Working hours of a bank branch are not always equivalent to the time of operational customer service . It happens that the branch is still open to receive visitors, but cash settlement services are no longer provided. This suggests that the “banking day” is already over.

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Please note that reliable information about the beginning, end and duration of the operating day, as well as the bank’s work schedule, is provided only by employees or official information resources of a particular financial institution.

Legal basis

As already mentioned, Russian legislation does not contain any articles or provisions that would provide comprehensive and accurate information about the accounting day. Due to the fact that the laws of both the banking and tax spheres remain silent on this issue, banking days can be identified with the following intervals:

• working days, the duration of which is determined by the management of the financial organization;
• operating hours (their duration is shorter than the length of working days - for example, one working day may have 5-6 operating hours).

At the legislative level, the banking day is not designated in any way

In practice, an operating day can be either shorter than a working day or equal to it, depending on the operating rules of a particular institution. The difference between a trading day and a working day lies in the way it is formalized. The duration of the “Operational Day” must be fixed in an official order, which is issued by the management of each bank.

Reference. If you want to obtain information about the operational hours of a specific financial organization, you must contact its employees. Unlike working hours, information about information is difficult to find on the website or on any other media.

Ask bank employees about operating hours

Features of processing urgent payments

Such transactions may be considered by the banking institution for a certain period. Payments with the status of “urgent payment” are processed instantly by the financial institution Sberbank. They can be carried out even in cases where the operating day has come to an end, in accordance with the established list of currencies and with a limit on the amount in the bank client’s account.

Difficulty of definition

The reason why the issue regarding the identification of a banking day has become the topic of an entire article is very obvious - this term is very vague and there are objective grounds for this vagueness. So, there are several difficulties that prevent us from giving an unambiguous definition of the database:

• each credit institution sets its own work schedules and has its own rules for customer service;
• In the network of the same bank, different offices can operate on databases of different durations. This feature can create problems not only when communicating with other banks, but also with subsidiaries of one organization;
• The banking day in many cases does not coincide with the working day, which is specified in the organization’s documents. This discrepancy becomes especially obvious during the New Year holidays, when most of the employees’ time is spent on preparing annual reports;

  

  Banking day is not the same as working day

• absolute freedom in determining the boundaries of the banking day periodically leads to misunderstandings when conducting interbank transactions.

Methodology for calculating the number of banking days

If contract language uses the term “banking day”, it is important to calculate the time period correctly. In this situation, all days are taken into account when the bank specified in the agreement works according to schedule and provides cash settlement services, but one should rely specifically on operating hours, and not on the opening hours of branches . Weekends and holidays are not considered banking periods.

If, according to the agreement, several financial institutions are involved in making the payment, then you should inquire about the duration of the hours of cash settlement services in each organization. You need to plan payments especially carefully before weekends or on the eve of holidays, when the likelihood of delays increases.

How does the calculation work?

The calculation of banking days involves the summation of all working days of a credit institution - days during which the bank engages in various settlement operations. Banking days may include both weekends and holidays. The main criterion for counting days is not their overlap with various holidays, but the presence or absence of financial services.

When preparing reports, it is important to distinguish between banking and working days

Accountants involved in the preparation of various documents and reports should clearly distinguish between three concepts:

• calendar day;
• working day;
• banking day.

Thus, answering one of the common questions about whether a banking day is a working day or a calendar day, we can say unequivocally - a banking day is neither one nor the other.

Differentiation of concepts

Let's repeat it again:

• working days mean the total duration of the institution’s functioning throughout the entire day. The working day includes both the implementation of operational activities and the implementation of other procedures that do not involve interaction with clients;
• During banking days, employees of the organization are engaged in receiving or paying out funds associated with a variety of payment procedures, depending on the procedures specific to a particular bank.

Failure to distinguish between banking days and calendar days will lead to significant errors in reports

Neglecting the content of these concepts will inevitably lead to confusion in contracts and offensive mistakes. Therefore, from all these terms, which seem synonymous, it is important to choose the one whose content most correctly reflects the intent of the specialist preparing the documents.

Why is it necessary to know the length of a bank's operating day?

You should know the length of the banking day not only in order to complete the transaction at the appointed time. This term can be used in contracts for the supply of goods in the section: payment terms for goods. This is an important point, because if this requirement is not met, a fine may be imposed on the guilty party.

For example, the contract states that the payment period for goods is within 5 banking days. The countdown period begins from the next business day when the parties agreed on payment (this can be from the moment the goods are received or shipped). If the goods arrived on Friday, the payment deadline will begin on Monday and you must pay for the goods before the following Friday. Please note that payment must be made during the business day on Friday, otherwise the terms of the contract will not be fulfilled.

To avoid confusion with concepts and calculation of terms, it is better to formulate the terms of the contract more simply. For example, “payment for the item will be made within 5 business days after receiving the item.” In this case, the payment period will be calculated based on the number of standard working days, excluding Saturday and Sunday.

You should be aware that if a money transfer transaction is carried out by a client in the afternoon, at the end of the business day, the time it takes for the money to be received by the recipient may be increased compared to the transaction in the morning. This is important when repaying loans from other banks, when the payment must be received by the appointed time, otherwise there will be a delay.

Electronic payment systems operate around the clock; transactions can be made at any time, regardless of the banking day, if the operation does not require the participation of a banking specialist. Otherwise, the operation is pending until it is verified by a bank employee and accepted.

Purpose of the database

After we have figured out that failure to distinguish between calendar, banking and working days can lead to unfavorable consequences, let’s talk about the purposes for which the banking day was introduced. So, a banking day has the following set of characteristics:

• the day starts with the conversion of the remaining part of incoming funds into foreign currency;
• at the end of the day, employees are preparing bank reports, which will confirm that the bank has not violated any regulations;
• throughout the day, employees are allocated a certain number of hours for customer service;
• a day includes fixed operating time, which is allocated to a branch of the Bank of Russia, whose tasks include maintaining a correspondent account for a commercial financial organization.

At the beginning of the banking day, currency conversion occurs

What is the difference?

A banking day is a period “nested” within the working day . The working day is in most cases longer than that of a bank. However, the opposite also happens.

For example, if an employee works a short shift, and his number of working hours is less than the banking day established in a financial organization, during which the specified employee has the right to perform cash settlement operations .

Based on the above, a banking day is determined by cash transactions.

All other time while the employee is at the workplace refers only to his working day .

Operations with the cash register are not performed.

Unlike working and banking days, calendar days are determined only by dates in the calendar, which is reflected in the name. The main characteristics of a calendar day are the number in the current month, the month number and the year number.

There are as many calendar days as there are total days in the year. The number of banking and working days is less than 365-366 per year.

Using the concept of a banking day can simplify or, conversely, complicate the task when drawing up agreements with a bank or between organizations.

It is important to take into account the differences between this definition and the concepts of working and calendar days . And, if necessary, replace it with another, more precise wording that fits the terms of the contract.

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Despite regular experience of visiting banks and other commercial organizations that work with citizens, the Russian average person sometimes does not see the difference between the concepts of “banking day” and “working day.” What do these periods represent?

On practice

Despite the fact that banking days for different institutions may have their own specific details, it is possible to identify several common features. First of all, a banking day determines the time boundaries within which hours are allocated for the implementation of financial transactions based on the internal regulations of a particular bank. It is necessary to take into account that the schedule covering the receipt and payment of financial resources does not coincide in all cases.

The main difficulty in interaction between banks is the discrepancy between operating hours

In order not to make a mistake with the time, it is recommended to find out about working days in advance from bank tellers. Also, you should take into account the fact that some banks prefer to handle settlements during weekends and holidays. This approach implies an inevitable increase in the duration of financial transactions.

Holidays non-working days in Russia for 2021

Decree of the Government of Russia dated October 10, 2020 No. 1648 “On the transfer of days off in 2021” approved the procedure for the rational use of weekends and non-working holidays by employees in 2021.

In 2021, the Government of the Russian Federation decided to postpone the following days off:

• from Saturday January 2 to Friday November 5;
• from Sunday January 3 to Friday December 31;
• from Saturday 20 February to Monday 22 February.

The Bank of Russia has not yet published the “List of non-working holidays and postponed weekends for 2021”, which determines the operation of the banking system.
seven long holiday periods in 2021

:

• in January - from 01 to 10 - New Year holidays and Christmas (10 days of rest),
• in February - from the 21st to the 23rd - Defender of the Fatherland Day (3 days of rest),
• in March – from 6 to 8 – International Women’s Day (3 days),
• in May - from 1 to 3 and from 8 to 10 May - Spring and Labor Holidays and Victory Day (3 days each, respectively),
• in June - from 12 to 14 - Russia Day (3 days).
• in November - from 4 to 7 - Day of National Unity.

In addition, it should be especially noted that January 3 is Sunday, so at the legislative level it was decided to “fill up” the rest of this day for Russians at the expense of Friday, December 31, 2021.
The “Production calendar for 2021” for Russia, highlighting holidays and postponed days off, can be viewed here

Settlement and cash services

Separately, I would like to touch on the topic of banking days in the context of cash settlement services. Databases, in relation to cash settlement services, have a variety of operational tasks, depending on the chosen credit institution. The operating hours of certain bank branches must be obtained from employees.

The type of payments made is determined by the time at which payments occur. The time it takes bank employees to process specific types of payments can increase to several days and does not depend in any way on the length of the operating day. As a rule, delays in completing these transactions can be encountered during holidays. The reason for these delays is a discrepancy between the schedules of certain financial structures.

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What is cash management services?

What is a working day?

A working day is a concept of time that has several interpretations. On the one hand, this is a period, a calendar day, which is not a holiday or weekend. On the other hand, from the labor code, this is the day on which company employees perform their labor duties in accordance with the concluded employment contract.

Therefore, in fact, an employee’s going to work, regardless of the calendar period of the week, may even be on a day off, but still be considered a working day. A working day in different understandings may differ from a calendar day. Fall on a holiday or weekend, occupy night or day time.

If we are talking about an industrial or production employee, the working day is most often determined by the shift calendar. This type of work includes directly employees of special services - ambulances, firefighters and police structures, etc. Employees of government agencies and banks adhere to a 5-day work schedule, with days off on Saturday and Sunday, as well as during holidays.

Contract deliveries

Banking day is also important for contractual deliveries. The fact is that when concluding all kinds of agreements on the periods of delivery of goods, the time period that is allocated for the implementation of obligations is calculated precisely in banking days. And due to the fact that this concept does not have an unambiguous formulation, the boundaries of banking days must be clearly stated in the agreement, the goals of which are:

• regulation of the rights of the parties to the agreement;
• listing the obligations of the parties to the agreement.

To avoid violation of delivery deadlines, contracts should indicate banking days in advance

If the agreement uses the concept of “banking day” without specifying its duration, mutual settlements will face a number of difficulties. Moreover, inconsistency in the operating modes of cooperating credit institutions is one of the most common reasons why conflicts arise between counterparties. Meanwhile, disagreement can be easily avoided by thinking through and discussing the delivery time frame in advance.

What is a banking day?

A banking day as the period during which financial institutions carry out payment transactions with the participation of specialists. As a rule, it is between 10 and 16 hours.

The participation of bank employees in payment transactions is the main criterion for determining a banking day. The fact is that with the development of remote service technologies and the introduction of electronic payment interfaces, clients of financial institutions increasingly prefer to carry out transactions on their own. Moreover, such technological solutions, as a rule, operate around the clock. Consequently, the term “banking day” in relation to independently made payments is not always applicable.

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But there are some types of financial transactions that, on the one hand, are carried out by a bank client without contacting cashiers, and on the other hand, in fact require the intervention of specialists from a credit institution at certain stages of the transaction.

For example, using the Bank-Client system, a citizen can create an order to transfer funds from one bank account to another - at any time of the day. However, in some cases the “payment” is processed only within the banking day. Therefore, a person often needs to wait a little while until his transfer order is completed.

Functions of banks

At the end of the article, we will give a more complete description of some of the functions of banks, which were repeatedly mentioned in the text.

Table 1. Main functions of banks

Use of the term in supply contracts

When defining in contracts the period for the delivery of products or goods, a banking day is sometimes indicated as a unit characterizing the period for fulfillment of undertaken obligations. Since there is no clear definition of this term, it is necessary to clearly define its wording in the document regulating the rights and obligations of the parties.

The use of the term in supply contracts without specifying a specific time frame can lead to confusion during mutual settlements. The discrepancy between the operating modes of financial organizations serving legal entities is a frequent cause of conflict situations between counterparties.