The Journal Record

Bankers to use survey as barometer for economy

12/18/06

By Brian Brus

OKLAHOMA CITY – The Oklahoma Bankers Association will try to confirm word-of-mouth feedback from its members with a formal survey within a few weeks, President Roger Beverage said.

“We’re going to try to get right down to the grass roots and find out how things really are across Oklahoma,” Beverage said Friday. “We’ve not done this before, and I think we’ve missed the boat, because as an association we’ve relied on others to tell us how the economy is. And I think, frankly, that our own members are a better barometer of how things are in our own state.”

The topics will range from loan investment diversity to an apparent increase in fraud behavior to whether gambling now allowed in Oklahoma is having a negative impact on customers’ banking accounts.

“I keep hearing about how gambling is affecting missed loan payments, overdrawn checking accounts and savings accounts,” he said. “I’m hearing this from a number of different sources, most of them banks, but from the retail side of operations as well. … I don’t know if there’s any trend to that or if there really is anything to report yet, but I’ve heard it from enough people over the last three months to want to check on it.”

The OBA represents 274 chartered banks. When asked whether the association is adequately serving its membership, Beverage said one issue in particular continually causes problems for him.

“The industry continues to be in pretty good shape overall. But there are always concerns you look for to make sure you’re still on track,” he said.

“My biggest challenge is to help bankers understand the competitive nature of their business and how that intersects with the political world,” said Beverage.

“That’s probably my biggest frustration, is that I have not been able to effectively communicate that to enough bankers. It literally keeps me awake at night sometimes. … You get so caught up in what you’re doing as a professional – banking or real estate or law or medicine – that you forget to step back and see how you fit into the bigger picture. I want to do a better job of that this year.”

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