Week of May 18

In This Issue…

• OBA Annual Business Meeting set for Tuesday
• Banks return to offices, facilities
• Check out OBA’s Strategic Members COVID-19 Resource page
• OBA education corner …
  

OBA Annual Business Meeting set for Tuesday

The OBA will hold its Annual Business Meeting at noon Tuesday by video and audio conference call.

The meeting, which usually takes place during the Association’s annual convention, was moved to a standalone event via conference call in light of the indefinite postponement of the 2020 OBA Convention amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The OBA Annual Business Meeting is open to any employee of any OBA-member bank. During the meeting, new members of the OBA Board of Directors will be nominated and voted upon, as well as a new first vice chair. Additionally, outgoing OBA Chairman Frazier Henke will officially pass along his title and duties to the incoming chairman, Rick Walker.

Walker is CEO of Liberty National Bank in Lawton, while Henke is president and CEO of American Bank & Trust in Tulsa.

Also during the meeting, OBA President and CEO Roger Beverage will present the annual treasurer’s report for the Association.

You can download materials related to the meeting below:

• 2019 Business Meeting Minutes.
• 2020 Business Meeting By-Laws Amendment.
• 2020 Business Meeting Agenda.
• 2020 OBA Treasurer’s Report.

The details to join the conference call are below:

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Banks return to offices, facilities

In a recent survey conducted by the American Bankers Association, 91 percent of the respondents represented banks under $10 billion. Forty-nine percent of the respondents represented banks less than $500 million in total assets. Here’s what the survey revealed:

• Nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of respondents stated that returning to the office will not be mandatory if their state government and/or federal government lift restrictions.
• The majority of respondents (92 percent) will have measures in place to assist employees who are not comfortable returning to the office.
• Sixty-four percent of respondents will phase employees back into offices based on their job responsibility.
• Three in five responding banks will phase employees back to their physical office locations based on the number of COVID-19 cases in their geographic area.
• Two in five responding banks plan to phase employees back into the office within the next 30 days. Whereas, thirty percent of responding banks plan to phase employees back in within the next 60 days.
• Twenty-one percent of responding banks anticipate their workforce returning to offices and facilities in May, 33 percent in June and 15 percent in July.
• Seventeen percent of responding banks do not know when their workforce will return to offices and facilities.
• Three in five responding banks plan to ease group gathering limitations after the CDC recommendations on social distancing are lifted.
• Responding banks are referring to state public health officials (31 percent), the CDC (30 percent) and local public health officials (20 percent) for requirements regarding COVID-19 response procedures.
• More than a third (36 percent) of responding banks will keep their remote employees remote indefinitely.
• Responding banks estimate that an average of 21 percent of their employees will remain remote indefinitely.
• Nearly two thirds of responding banks have all travel banned.
  • Thirty percent of responding banks are allowing essential travel. Of those banks, 32 percent have a policy in place to approve essential business travel.
  • Responding banks anticipate business travel will resume in June (25 percent) and July (23 percent), but there are many banks that are still trying to figure out the right timing.
• Responding banks have issued meeting size restrictions for both internal and external meetings, with a headcount limit of 10 people or fewer.
• Some banks are only allowing virtual meetings with external parties.

“There is still a great deal of uncertainty about when and to what extent banks will be able to go back into ‘business as usual’ mode,” OBA Chief of Staff Adrian Beverage said. “We’re trying to make sure member banks have as much information as possible about the status of the COVID-19 virus and the extent to which the pandemic is slowing down.

“There’s no single pattern that fits every community in every state. Banks are doing their best to minimize (the virus’s) impact on its customers and the banks’ community as a whole. And, in spite of the restrictions, our member banks have been able to generate $5.5 billion in PPP loans so far. That’s really something to be proud of.”

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Check out OBA’s Strategic Members COVID-19 Resource Page

To help our member banks have access to as many resources as possible during the COVID-19 pandemic, the OBA is collecting information from our strategic members and other affiliated businesses that are providing important information and help.

Click here to visit the page on the OBA website. And if you’re a strategic member and would like to have your own information listed, send an email to Thi (thi@oba.com) at the OBA!

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OBA education corner …