BancOklahoma Units' Fed Loans Are $150 Million
TULSA, Okla. -- BancOklahoma Corp.'s subsidiary banks have been forced to borrow at least $150 million from the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank because of a recent shortage of funds.</br></br>The bank holding company, in response to questions yesterday, acknowledged that it recently initiated the borrowings, but it refused to say how much money it has taken from the Fed's discount window. But it is understood that total borrowings for the 11-bank company exceed $150 million, mostly borrowings made by its Bank of Oklahoma unit in Oklahoma City.</br></br>Although the banking concern argued that it hasn't had a major loss of deposits, the Fed borrowings indicate that the banking company is having problems raising funds and maintaining its liquidity. Questioned about its ability to raise funds, a spokesman for the bank said, "We have plenty of borrowing capacity left at the discount window." He declined to say if the banks are having trouble raising money from other sources, but he added, "Just because you tap the discount window, doesn't mean you are in dire need."</br></br>The Fed's discount window borrowings are a privilege extended to banks as a short-term source of cash when more conventional sources are unavailable.</br></br>BancOklahoma's Fed borrowings came after it announced a $50.3 million second-quarter loss on July 18, bringing its total loss for the first half to $94.4 million. For a bank company with $2.7 billion in assets, the loss put several important operating ratios below levels acceptable to regulators. It also forced BancOklahoma to request a rare form of assistance from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.