Oklahoma State Deposit Insurance Case Study

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Historical Background In the early 1900s, eight states – Kansas, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and Washington – in the Midwest implemented state deposit insurance systems. Following the Panic of 1907, the states’ leaders found it necessary to establish such systems to protect the states from banking panics and suspensions. This paper is specifically focused on one of the states in the Midwest: Oklahoma. Oklahoma was the first of the eight states to establish such financial system to regulate banking operations after the Civil War. The bill for the state deposit insurance fund was passed in December of 1907, and initially required all state banks to adopt the deposit guaranty fund, while national …show more content…

With the prospect of economic development, the number of state banks grew from 495 to 692 from 1908 to 1910, as well as the total deposits from about $21 million to $49 million (Figure 1 and 2). However, the number of national banks declined from 308 to 225, as many national banks re-chartered to state banks (Figure 1). The banks abused this legislation, and the rapid expansion of the policy led to its first major problem when the Columbia Bank and Trust Company, one of the largest banking institutions, failed in 1909. The remaining assets of the Columbia Bank and Trust Company, and the guaranty deposit fund could not cover the disbursements to depositors, leading to its collapse. Initially, the attractive features of the state deposit insurance system, and the misconception of having safer deposits led to many national banks re-chartering to become state banks to attract clients. After the failure of Columbia Bank and Trust Company, and stricter modification of regulations on state, insured banks, many re-chartered into national banks, leaving the remaining state banks to extend risky credit to attract clients. From 1913 to 1923, the number of state banks decreased as the number of national banks increased (Figure 1). Since state banks had mismanaged riskier portfolios, more state banks than national banks failed when the agricultural depression occurred in the …show more content…

The deposit insurance fund provides security to the depositors against insolvency risk, however, it also promotes riskier behavior by insured banks – a form of moral hazard. Economic theory suggests that because insured banks have a sense of security provided by the deposit insurance, they will take on more risk by loaning out more of its deposits to try to expand operations and increase profits. This reckless behavior of the insured banks increases probability of bank exit during economic downturns. This research seeks to test whether the theory stands true by looking specifically into the banking operations in Oklahoma in the early

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