Financial health of Oklahoma’s banks remains steady

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Author: Brian Brus

Story Type: News

The financial health of Oklahoma's banks compares favorably with the rest of the nation and is experiencing the same industry ups and downs, a BauerFinancial Inc. spokeswoman said Tuesday.

The independent bank rating and research firm recently launched a new product to package its quarterly analysis of financial institutions for consumers interested in hometown banking. The Florida company has been reviewing call reports filed with federal regulators and assigning star ratings based on that data since 1983, spokeswoman Karen Dorway said.

Those ratings are based on "a depositor perspective," she said, with an eye toward capital ratios, profitability, delinquent loans and liquidity. The firm rates all banks on the same criteria, she said. BauerFinancial has no financial interest in any bank.

Of the 286 banks in Oklahoma researched by BauerFinancial, 128 received five-star "superior" ratings and 86 got four-star "excellent" ratings based on their financial status as of June 30. Three Oklahoma banks received two stars, considered to be "problematic" by analysts.

Federal regulators are expected to release data for the third quarter shortly, Dorway said.

While 15 banks dropped in their ratings from the end of March to the end of June, 15 banks rose. That's normal for the industry, Dorway said.

"What you're experiencing in your area is really typical overall," Dorway said. "Over the last few quarters or even the last couple of years, we've had somewhere in the neighborhood of about 10 percent of banks change ratings from quarter to quarter.

"The industry has been in really good shape the last few years, and I think that's a testimony to how well bankers have positioned themselves to deal with changes, whether it's changes in the economy or changes in operations. It used to be that if interest rates went up, all the banks went one way and if the rates went down, the banks would go the other way.

"Now rates are going down and coming back up, but all the banks are doing well profitability-wise anyway because they're handling the risks better," she said.

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