Banks in Oklahoma in good shape

Bankers in Oklahoma have been busy soothing customers affected by the gloom and doom of the nation’s most recent financial crisis, which has all but consumed 24 hour news channels of late.

Tuesday, the stock market saw increases after a dark day on Monday when markets reacted to the news that legislators had failed to pass a plan that was to pump $700 billion into the beleaguered lending market.

“All of the media has been putting out information but it is all so confusing, I’m even confused by it,” said Stock Exchange Bank President, Bruce Benbrook.

But there is one thing that does not have Benbrook confused and that is the condition of most Oklahoma banks.

Benbrook visited with the Woodward News Tuesday afternoon about recent news that included the failure of many large-name banks such as Washington Mutual and Wachovia.

He encouraged those who live and bank in the state, especially in Northwestern Oklahoma, to continue to make prudent decisions about their finances but mostly to celebrate a good state economy that made better decisions than those firms and banks on the East and West coasts.

He noted that most banks here are not tied to the large investment firms such as those that have failed recently.

“This is a great time to be in Oklahoma,” he said and chuckled a bit. “The banks here and also in the Midwest in general, are well capitalized,” Benbrook said. “ They have been sticking close to home, making good loans to the good people here and we are not in the condition that these other institutions are.”

Benbrook said he has been reading and studying the bailout package that failed in the U.S. House of Representatives but still feels like he does not have enough information to express a sound opinion of the legislation.

“I feel convinced that this is all going to work out,” he said.

In a statement issued by the American Bankers Association, borrowers here may face some slightly tighter lending standards as banks consider the risk, but those with good credit should still eb able to get a loan.

Those opinions were mirrored by Central National Bank of Enid-Woodward Branch President, Steven Jones.

“Mostly people have been coming to ask us, ‘Should I get out of the stock market?,’” Jones said. “Our advice is not to get out - to let this thing stabilize because you create a huge loss when you get out; they should wait.”

Jones said the next question for most customers is are they safe in their banks.

“Especially in the Midwest region, the banks are sound and well capitalized and most of that negative publicity is not going to affect these banks across this area.”

Jones said the news media blitz is really about only a few banks that made bad choices.

But Jones said this is indeed a time for Americans to take a look at their debt and use debt as the management tool, the way it was designed to be used, especially going into an uncertain national economy.

“ Certainly the smaller the debt load the better,” Jones said. “Basically if you are making a lot of payments to me, you are not benefiting from your own money as much. They need to manage their debt and make sure it is not managing them.”

Both local bankers are not alone and just spouting platitudes. In a statement from Oklahoma Banking Commissioner, Mick Thompson touts the banking industry in Oklahoma for remaining prudent throug the years while making good loans to its “main street” custmers.

“In contrast to the unrest and failures that have plagued Wall Street firms as well as banks in other states, Oklahoma’s financial institutions remain strong. In the years that preceded this latest financial crisis, Oklahoma’s community banks remains committed to their Main Street customers and avoided the types of investments and lending practices that have caused problems for Wall Street,” Thompson said.