Dive Brief:

• Oklahoma City-based BancFirst has agreed to buy in-state peer American Bank of Oklahoma, a Collinsville-based privately held community lender.
• The acquisition will add roughly $385 million in total assets, $280 million in loans and $320 million in deposits to BancFirst’s $14 billion in assets, the larger lender said last week.
• The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter, according to the press release. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Dive Insight:

BancFirst aims to leverage ABOK’s presence in the Tulsa metro area with its Collinsville and Skiatook branches, about 20 miles north of Tulsa.

“Collinsville and Skiatook are thriving communities that continue to experience dynamic growth in Northeastern Oklahoma,” BancFirst CEO David Harlow said in a statement. “We are excited to welcome the American Bank of Oklahoma team and their customers to BancFirst. This acquisition aligns with our continued commitment to serving communities here in our home state.”

BancFirst’s last acquisition, The First National Bank and Trust Company of Vinita, was placed under a prompt corrective action directive by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in January 2021, just before the acquisition was announced. The OCC deemed the bank to be engaging in unsafe and unsound practices and notified the lender it would be subjected to supervisory actions applicable to undercapitalized lenders. A month later, BancFirst announced the purchase and assumption of assets and liabilities of the troubled bank.

ABOK has had its share of challenges as well. In February, ABOK was fined $7,500 by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. for violating FDIC rules related to flood insurance. The lender allegedly failed to obtain sufficient flood insurance coverage for properties in special flood hazard areas and ensure proper coverage before loan origination, increase, extension, or renewal. ABOK agreed to pay the civil money penalty without denying or admitting to the findings.

In August 2023, ABOK agreed to pay more than $1.15 million to settle a Justice Department investigation into allegations that the lender engaged in inadequate mortgage lending practices in majority-Black and Hispanic neighborhoods in the Tulsa metropolitan area from 2017 to at least 2021.

Under the consent order, the lender was required to open a branch in a majority-Black and Hispanic census tract within its four-county lending area around Tulsa. Additionally, ABOK was required to put at least $950,000 in a loan fund to subsidize mortgages and home improvement financing in predominantly Black and Hispanic neighborhoods.

ABOK, for its part, denied the DOJ's allegations that the bank failed to monitor and address fair lending risk appropriately.

The community bank had a partial win when a magistrate judge removed two references to the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre from the redlining consent order to which the bank had objected. ABOK noted that the DOJ’s decision to reference the “distressing historical event” in its complaint was concerning since the bank was established 77 years after the massacre.

BancFirst did not respond to requests for comments by press time.

ABOK will operate under its present name until the merger with BancFirst is completed, the company said. 

“Joining forces with BancFirst represents a great opportunity for our customers and employees to join one of the strongest banks in the country,” Teresa Brown, CEO of American Bank of Oklahoma. “We share common values and a commitment to local service, and we look forward to the partnership.”

BancFirst also operates two subsidiary Texas state-chartered banks: Pegasus Bank, headquartered in Dallas, and Worthington Bank, headquartered in Arlington. 

BancFirst has 104 locations with over 2,000 employees serving 60 counties in Oklahoma.