Oklahoma Bankers Association We make bankers better!
In This Issue…
- From Adrian’s desk …
- Trump moves to fire Fed board governor
- Deadline approaching for Oklahoma Bankers Hall of Fame nominations
- Join your peers on Capitol Hill: 2025 OBA Annual Washington Visit set
- Earlybird rate for OBA calendars ending
- OBA TikTok Time …
- OBA education corner …
From Adrian’s desk …
By Adrian Beverage
OBA President & CEO
Just some random tidbits that might be of interest to our bankers this week!
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Our first board meeting for the 2025-26 OBA Board of Directors is set for Wednesday. Beforehand, we’ll all meet for dinner this evening, for a chance to catch up on things from over the summer, and to also get to know the new board members.
Our OBA board meets monthly from August through May, and if any of our bankers have questions, thoughts, suggestions, etc., never hesitate to reach out to our directors (or myself)!
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The OBA’s Sharon Lewis is taking part in the International Association of Financial Crimes Investigators conference this week, which is being held in Oklahoma City. The IAFCI is a non-profit international organization that provides services and an environment within which information about financial fraud, fraud investigation and fraud prevention methods can be collected, exchanged and taught for the common good of the financial payment industry and our global society.
We’re proud that Sharon is taking part in organization’s conference!
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Well, the Brewers finally slowed down, slipping up enough for what could even be described as a short losing streak! My Cubbies took advantage to crawl back within shouting distance of the division lead, and maybe we’ll have a good, old-fashioned division race from here on out!
Trump moves to fire Fed board governor
President Trump announced Monday he had removed Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve board, although it is not immediately clear whether he has the legal authority to do so.
Trump, in a termination letter to Cook posted on Truth Social, cited allegations by Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte that she had made false statements on applications for home mortgages. The letter came four days after the Department of Justice said it would investigate Cook because of Pulte’s claim.
Cook released a statement on Monday that said the president doesn’t have the authority to fire her, and she will not resign.
Cook, who was first appointed to the Fed board in 2022 by President Joe Biden, is currently serving a term that expires in 2028.
Deadline approaching for Oklahoma Bankers Hall of Fame nominations
The Oklahoma Bankers Hall of Fame is now accepting nominations for the upcoming 2025 class – deadline is Aug. 31; additionally, a reminder the process of selecting inductees was updated a few years back.
First, for those interested in nominating a banker, here are some downloadable forms linked below – please return all nominations to Adrian Beverage (adrian@oba.com):
If a person was nominated previously, it is not necessary to re-nominate them – they will remain in consideration. Updates to their bio, letters of recommendation, etc., however, are always welcomed.
Second, as mentioned, a new process for selecting the inductees to each class was instituted in 2023. After discussion with leadership at the Oklahoma Hall of Fame about its processes, and learning about other methods from other organizations, the induction procedure for the Oklahoma Bankers Hall of Fame has been updated.
After all nominations have been received by OBA President and CEO Adrian Beverage, he will forward those nominees to the OBA chair (currently, Steve Bagwell), who will convene a committee of 11 individuals in September to select the inductees. These 11 individuals will be made up of the OBA’s Executive Committee, who will join a banker selected by the OBA chair from each of the OBA’s six geographical groups, as well as the chair of the OBA Emerging Leaders Division. The specific committee members will be completely anonymous to everyone outside of the current OBA chair.
These committee members will select the final inductees from the group of nominees given. They will also discuss any possible posthumous inductees who may have not been nominated.
Once the inductees have been selected, the OBA chair will inform Beverage and notification and preparations will be made by the OBA staff for the induction ceremony, which will be held this year in December at the Oklahoma History Center in Oklahoma City.
Following the 2025 selections, the current selection committee will immediately disband and a new committee will be picked the following year by the next OBA chair. Aside from the OBA chair and executive committee, the selection committee will remain anonymous with only the other committee members from that specific year knowing their identities.
Join your peers on Capitol Hill: 2025 OBA Annual Washington Visit quickly approaching
The OBA’s Annual Washington Visit is Sept. 14 through Sept. 16, and the hotel will be The Mayflower Hotel.
Click here to register online or submit the registration form available in the brochure. Take note the deadline for room reservations at The Mayflower is Friday, Aug. 29.
If you have any questions, contact Megan McGuire.
Earlybird rate for OBA calendars ending
This is the last week to order 2026 Oklahoma Views & Vistas Calendar at early bird rate!
The 2026 Oklahoma Views & Vistas Calendars are now ready – order yours by Aug. 31 to get the special low price of just $1.10 per calendar. These calendars are a great way to share your bank’s logo and information to your customers!
OBA TikTok Time …
Welcome to the continuation of our semi-regular feature in the OBA Update: OBA TikTok Time!
The OBA created a TikTok account to feature fun, entertaining little video segments that feature our bankers and those who work with them. No, a TikTok account is not required to view these short videos as you can navigate directly there just by using the link we provide here in the OBA Update. For those concerned about security via TikTok, you can also easily view the videos through our Instagram account. We’ll feature our most recent TikToks in the TikTok Time … corner of various upcoming OBA Updates.
For this edition, we have a special treat for viewers! Last week, the OBA’s dynamic daughter/mother team of Niki Brown and Sheila Wyatt discovered a neat little prank while perusing TikTok themselves … and decided to pull it on unsuspecting, harmless, lovably naive co-worker Jeremy Cowen. So, check it out for multiple angles of Jeremy being scared absolutely witless by the diabolical duo!
OBA education corner …
Things were going badly for some of us during a fantasy football draft this past weekend, so to double down on the misery, we hooked up with “Power Ballads Radio” on Pandora while finishing up the draft! Nothing goes better with a mediocre group of football players than “The Flame” by Cheap Trick or “Heaven” by Warrant! While breaking out the hair spray and listening along to “More Than Words” by Extreme, we hope you also have time to check out what’s happening on the continuing education front, including the following:
- 2025 Appraisal & Evaluation Compliance, Sept. 5, Oklahoma City — Whether you’re responsible for ordering, managing, reviewing appraisals, conducting evaluations or overseeing real estate lending risk, this seminar provides the regulatory and practical foundation you need.
- Fall Human Resources Seminar, Sept. 9, Oklahoma City — We will explore some of the changes in 2025 which have added a lot of confusion to HR. Understanding and getting thru this maze will help us get through more changes.
- Online Account Opening, Sept. 9, webinar — What do you need to know and do to be in compliance with Customer Identification Program, Customer Due Diligence, Identity Theft Programs, Disclosures, E Sign and many other issues?
- Cyber Security 101, Sept. 18, webinar — Attend this session to understand the principles of cybersecurity, review the common security threats which concern your institution and review practical security controls which can safeguard your financial institution.
- Credit Analysis Basics, Sept. 18-Tulsa; Sept. 19-Oklahoma City — Attend this proactive seminar and learn how banks make lending decisions based on the five C’s of credit: capacity,
capital, collateral, conditions and character! - Real Estate Lending Compliance, Oct. 1-2, Oklahoma City — This program provides an overview of the real estate lending requirements from 10 regulations, along with comprehensive coverage of selected topics, policy suggestions, employee training tips, audit techniques and steps to eliminate past problems.