Three bank consolidations occurred in Oklahoma during the first three quarters of this year.
In February the State Banking Board approved the merger of First National Bank of Stigler “with and into” Firstar Bank of Sallisaw. Firstar Bank had a little over $920 million in assets, compared to $137,677,000 for First National in Stigler, records reflect.
In March, the Banking Board approved the merger of First National Bank of Spearman, Texas, with and into Guymon’s Bank of the Panhandle. The new institution is named Panhandle First Bank and has assets of $513.3 million, according to its website.
And in August the Banking Board authorized the merger of First National Bank in Okeene with and into Alva State Bank and Trust Co. The union will create a “banking organization” with $590 million in assets. The banks had not completed the transaction as of Oct. 3, State Banking Commissioner Mick Thompson told Southwest Ledger.
More than one national bank in Oklahoma has switched to a state charter because “our fees are cheaper, and it’s easier to talk directly to a state regulator versus someone who’s in Washington, D.C.,” Thompson told the Ledger.
According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., Oklahoma had 177 financial institutions in the second quarter of this year. The Oklahoma City market accounted for 70 of the state’s banks; the Tulsa market, 60 of them; and the Lawton- area market had 12 of them.
Collectively those institutions reported assets of $193.39 billion, an increase of $7.7 billion since the same period a year ago.
Of the 177 banks:
• 44 of them (24.9%) had assets of less than $100 million each.
• 45 institutions (25.4%) had assets of $100 million to less than $250 million.
• 66 institutions (37.3%) had assets of $250 million to less than $1 billion.
• 18 institutions (10.2%) had assets of $1 billion to less than $10 billion.
• 4 institutions (2.3%) had assets of $10 billion or more.
According to the FDIC, pastdue and nonaccrual loans as a median percentage of total loans in Q2 was 1.53%; noncurrent loans as a median percentage of total loans in Q2 was 0.59%; and net loan losses as a median percentage of total loans in Q2 was a minuscule 0.01%.