Bank Official Says Your Money Is Safe

While Wachovia is the latest financial institution in the spotlight, some people wonder if Oklahoma banks could face problems.  News On 6 anchor Terry Hood reports banking leaders in the Sooner State are not worried.

It's been 16 years since a bank failed in Oklahoma. Since then, state regulations have been changed and banking experts say Oklahoma's economy is helping to protect other banks from doing the same.

Hundreds of California bank customers waited outside IndyMac branches last week. Federal regulators seized its assets after the government declared IndyMac could not meet its depositor's demands. The bank is the second largest financial institution to close in U.S. history.

When word spread, many wondered if the same could happen in Oklahoma.  We put that question to Wade Edmundson of Summit Bank.

"No, people shouldn't be worried and I'll tell you why. First of all, what you see publicity wise mainly has to do with financial institutions that are not commercial banks," said Summit Bank CEO Wade Edmundson.

Edmundson points out IndyMac was a savings and loan that made a lot of deals in the failed sub-prime home mortgage market.

Banks in Oklahoma, he says, were never put in that situation because the housing market here has stayed relatively stable compared to the rest of the country.

"Oklahoma never had any hyper inflation. We had small percent increase in our values of houses per year and we're not experiencing any deflation, so Oklahoma banks are not experiencing those kinds of difficulties," said Edmundson.

There are two other ways Oklahoma money is protected, he says.  Banks across the state have a lot of capital, that's the amount of money used as a buffer to protect banks from any losses.

"There's about $5 billion in capital in Oklahoma banks, so that's very high," said Edmundson.

The other is visible every time you step in a bank. The FDIC insures every deposit up to $100,000. So if you see the gold sign and your account is less than a hundred grand, you should have nothing to worry about.

Edmundson says if you have more the $100,000 it's possible to get it insured as well, he suggests talking with your banker. You can also check out information about your financial institution online.