O'Bannon Bank weathers century of economic storms

“The bank has survived a lot by just taking care of our community,” said Executive Vice President Jim Brown, reflecting on the community bank’s 100 years in business. “It has always been our philosophy that if you take care of your community, the community will take care of you.”

There are many exercises of this philosophy during a century of economic ups and downs, but one jumps out to Brown, who has been with O’Bannon Bank for 34 years. “One of the toughest times I have ever seen was during the administration of Jimmy Carter when interest rates soared … to 22 percent,” he said. “The feeling of David Hawkins, who was the executive vice president at the time, was that was way more than the community could bear. So we did not charge customers the 22 percent prime for loans. At that time, we were the only bank in Buffalo, so it helped the economy of our area. We survived that tough time by taking care of our people.”

In the same vein, Brown said O’Bannon Bank has survived catastrophic events such as the Great Depression and a number of droughts by knowing its customers and addressing their needs.

Community focus

Started in 1905 by three members of the O’Bannon family, James P. O’Bannon, William S. O’Bannon and Howard O’Bannon, the bank now has four branches with assets of $130 million – small potatoes compared with the merger-crazed mega-banks of the new millennium. And that’s just fine with bank officials.

“We realize that we cannot be Bank of America – we just cannot compete with banks like that in some areas,” Brown said. “So we don’t try. We do the things that we can do.”

O’Bannon Bank has two locations in Buffalo, one on the square and one on Highway 65, as well as branches in Strafford and Fair Grove. The bank’s loan volume as of Sept. 30 was about $97 million and deposits were about $103 million.

“Most of our customers work in all four directions from Buffalo, and they are very diverse,” Brown said.

While the bank strictly adheres to an old-fashioned philosophy, officials also have invested in as many technological amenities as they can.

“Technological advances are tough to keep up with. We do have Internet banking, but it is very limited; for instance, we do not have online bill pay, but customers can check their balances, move money between accounts, that sort of thing,” Brown said.

O’Bannon Bank does everything it can afford to ensure that all four of its branches are providing customers the most convenient service possible.

“Each of them is fully staffed, full-service facilities. Any service you can do at the main bank you can do at one of our branches,” Brown said.

All banks are equipped with real-time automated teller machines that post transactions as they happen, night depositories, drive through lanes and safe deposit boxes.

He added that the bank also has made investments in imaging products and will in the future be able to comply with Check 21 laws.

Management shifts

Aside from enduring national and local economic shifts, O’Bannon Bank has weathered significant changes in its own administration.

Since being incorporated in 1905, the bank remained in family care for several generations – until David Hawkins left in 1983. Hawkins is the son-in-law of the bank’s first president, James P. O’Bannon.

“One of the most challenging times since I have been with the bank was when David left,” said Kathie Strickland, senior vice president of compliance, who has been with the bank for 35 years. “He was the last member of the Hawkins family to run the bank.”

“That was a serious change in management,” Brown added. “He was an executive vice president (and) did a very good job of running the bank. He was the one who took us through the time of high interest rates.”

In 1987, a group of local businesspeople formed the holding company Buffalo Bancshares Inc. and purchased the bank.

“That started us down a little bit different path,” prompted by a number of factors, Brown said. “For one thing, a lot of the major stockholders were aging, and there weren’t any more members of the family that were going to be running the bank, so they thought maybe it might be a good time to sell.”

This change altered employee benefits to some degree – approximately 50 percent of O’Bannon’s employees now own stock in the company – and brought a new management regime, “but a lot of us still have great loyalty to this bank because it is still a great place to work,” Strickland said.

Looking ahead, bank officials say they’ll continue to rely on the community.

“What keeps a community bank alive is personal service,” Strickland said. “It’s really the only edge we have over other institutions so we will hang on to that, even though that gets harder and harder as we expand.”

Added President Bill Monday, “Of course reaching the century mark is a milestone for any corporation, and in banking this year and last year we have seen many banks in the state of Missouri have attained that honor. One thing about O’Bannon Bank is that it will continue to distinguish itself by our employees’ and officers’ involvement in about every community organization that there is.”

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