OKLAHOMA CITY – The number of banks in the Sooner State remained stable during the last six months, but assets have grown by almost a billion dollars.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. counted 181 banks in Oklahoma during the first quarter of 2022, unchanged from the last quarter of 2021. In comparison, Oklahoma had 190 banks in Q1 of 2021, and 193 banks during the first half of 2020, FDIC records reflect.
Consolidation, not institutional failure, is the reason for the decline in number of banks. For example, another acquisition has been proposed. Blue Sky Bank of Pawhuska applied to the Federal Reserve Board for permission to acquire the assets and/or liabilities of Wewoka’s Security State Bank of Oklahoma. The comment period on that application concluded June 11.
The survivors have realized steady growth in assets: from $159.49 billion in Q4 2020 to $174.47 billion in Q1 of 2022, an increase of almost $15 billion (9.4%). At the end of Q1, return on assets was 0.99%.
In an examination of the quality of assets held by Oklahoma banks, the FDIC found that past-due and non-accrual loans increased from 1.03% of total loans in Q4 of 2021 to 1.14% in Q1 of 2022. Net loan losses as a percent of total loans in 2021 shrunk to 0.00%, compared to 0.03% in Q4 of 2021 and 0.11% in 2020.
Oklahoma’s banks reported $351 million in net income in the first three months of this year. Total deposits on March 31 were $122.7 billion.
Of the 181 banks in Oklahoma at the end of Q1 this year:
• 54 of them (29.8% of the total) had assets of less than $100 million.
• 44 of them (24.3%) had assets of $100 million to $250 million.
• 66 of them (36.5%) had assets ranging from $250 million to $1 billion.
• 13 banks (7.2%) reported assets of $1 billion to $10 billion; and
• 4 banks (2.2%) have assets of more than $10 billion each.
Total employment in Oklahoma’s commercial banks on March 31 numbered 22,283.
According to the FDIC, 4.47% of Oklahoma’s banks were deemed unprofitable by March 31, compared to 2.79% at the end of last year.
The FDIC’s most recent state profile shows that during the first quarter of 2022, the Lawton market had 13 banks with $2.16 billion in deposits; the Oklahoma City market, 71 banks with deposits of $50.37 billion; Tulsa market, 59 banks with $37.4 billion in deposits; Fort Smith-Arkansas/Oklahoma market, 20 banks holding $5.75 billion in deposits; and the Enid market, 14 banks with $2.7 billion in total deposits.
The banks in those five markets constituted 177 of the 181 in the state as reported by the FDIC.
In a related matter, the FDIC announced the results of its evaluation of two Oklahoma non-member banks for their compliance with the Community Reinvestment Act.
Washita State Bank at Burns Flat and Frontier State Bank in Oklahoma City both received a “satisfactory” rating.
The CRA is a 1977 law intended to encourage insured banks and thrifts to meet local credit needs, including those of low- and moderate-income neighborhoods, consistent with safe and sound operations. As part of the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989, Congress mandated the public disclosure of an evaluation and rating for each bank or thrift that undergoes a CRA examination.