Experts Say Bank Collapses Should Have Minimal Impact On Oklahomans

Despite recent bank collapses, experts say most Oklahomans shouldn't be worried about their banks.

Sean Kouplen the CEO of Regent Bank, said he believes the three banks that collapsed this year are part of a more isolated incident. He says in Oklahoma, some banks are having record years. Kouplen says the banks like First Republic and Silicon Valley that collapsed, aren’t just regular banks.

"They're very heavily focused in tech,” said Kouplen. “First Republic really catered to large tech executives, so they had really, really large clients, and that was the biggest final difference between them and the typical bank."

He says Oklahomans shouldn’t be worried because there are ways to bring down the risk.

"Your deposits can be fully insured,” said Kouplen. “So if you are out there and you are nervous, and you are keeping large deposits in a bank over $250,000, there are really a lot of options."

One of these options is putting money into different banks.

Kouplen says there have been a lot of misconceptions about the banking industry and that banks are not in the same condition they were in 2008.

"We are experiencing a record year, many banks in Oklahoma are experiencing a record year,” said Kouplen. “So to look at these headlines and to clump us all in together and say, 'oh my goodness banks are in trouble', just is not true."

He says that even though bank failures can seem scary, the people who deposited money in the bank got everything back.

"Nobody lost any money on these,” said Kouplen. “Every deposit that was in all 3 of these banks has been fully paid back to the customers."

Kouplen also says that these bank failures aren’t costing the taxpayers money, because the banks are the ones who pay for the losses.