Blog

Where you choose to bank matters.

Your choice of bank is your vote on where your money goes. Are your hard-earned deposits reinvested back into our local community? Or are they sent off to a banking hub in another state or halfway around the world? [See ICBA’s new Community Banking: Know the Difference video, which helps break it down.]

As more consumers realize the benefits of keeping their money local, I encourage you to think about how banking locally right here in Eastern Oklahoma County can go a long way in helping our local community thrive.

For example, when you deposit funds into a community bank, you can trust that your money is being redistributed back into Eastern Oklahoma County in the form of loans to fellow residents and entrepreneurs. This cannot be said for megabanks. Who knows where that money is going or what it’s powering?

As a local community banker and resident myself, I see the positive power of community banking play out every day. At FNB Community Bank, we have the privilege of serving other Eastern Oklahoma County residents and their families by making loans that help them buy a home, pay for a vehicle, or send a child to college—whatever it is, we’re there and happy to lend a hand. We also have the honor of serving many of our town’s small businesses through loans to help them get started, grow and succeed.

We’re working with the next generation of entrepreneurs to help launch their exciting ideas and bring our community into the future. This is local money at work—a symbiotic relationship between bank and community that makes sense.

During April, which is Community Banking Month, I encourage you to think about where you bank and how your money has the power to make a meaningful impact on our community. From local farms to craftsmen to startups, banking locally with a community bank connects you to your community and your neighbors and gives everyone a stake in its financial success. Here are a few reasons why:

• Community banks respect the communities we serve by doing right by their customers and community. Community banks and local communities have symbiotic relationships—one cannot thrive without the other.
• Community banks are relationship lenders. They know their customers and understand their financial needs, unlike larger institutions that take a transaction-based approach to banking.
• Community banks understand and celebrate local economies. As small businesses themselves, community banks are an unequivocal resource for entrepreneurs looking to launch a local small business. A study from seven Federal Reserve Banks found that small businesses that apply for loans with community banks are the most successful and most satisfied.
• Community banks give back. Serving local communities is second nature to community banks. At FNB Community Bank, we take pride in making our community stronger through various service projects. Through our Community Volunteer Program, FNB Community Bank employees volunteered over 400 hours to our local communities. One of our projects includes reading to groups of students and donating the book to the classroom library, as well as teaching financial literacy to elementary and middle school students.

Making our community better and stronger is something that we all have a stake in. We hope you will join us in continuing to make Eastern Oklahoma County thrive and prosper for years to come!

Julie Waddle
Assistant Vice President, Digital Marketing Manager
FNB Community Bank
Midwest City, Oklahoma