SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - The deadline to contribute to registered retirement savings plans passed on March 1.

Figures on how many people contributed to RRSPs and investment this year have yet to be tallied, but two local bank branch managers and a financial adviser weighed in on this year's season.

"The activity at the branch was steady," said Mike Adamchick, manager of Yellowknife's branch of TD Canada Trust. "I think having the extended hours, till 6 o'clock Thursday, Friday and open Saturday helped us quite a bit. It also helped the clients have the time to do their transactions that they required."

He added many people contribute monthly to their retirement plan and top it up during RRSP season.

This has been one of the busier RRSP seasons for Scotiabank financial adviser Maurice Helyar, who has worked in the banking industry for the nine years, including the last three at Scotiabank.

"This was a really busy RRSP season actually. It was a lot busier than I have noticed in the past," said Helyar.

The public's renewed confidence in the markets is one reason for the increase, he added.

"Last year, the markets being the way they were, there is too much uncertainty out there so people were paying off debt as opposed to investing," he said. "Whereas this year, with the markets improving and so forth, I think people have a lot more confidence in the investing. I think that had a lot to do with it."

For the most part, he said people try to invest as much as they can but only a minority can max out their contribution amount.

At the Royal Bank of Canada, Yellowknife branch manager Joy Roberts said from a Canadian perspective, more people are contributing to their RRSP throughout the year and they are focusing more on long-term investments.

"This year, we've seen some moderate growth in RRSPs but we've seen good growth in tax-free savings account," she said.

The RRSP deduction limit for the 2009 tax year is $21,000, but that number might increase for some individuals if they did not contribute fully to their plan in previous years.