Oklahoma State Treasurer Todd Russ’ office is assessing the situation going on nationally with the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. While this is an unsettling situation for the customers and investors of SVB, this is also a wakeup call to all financial institutions across the nation as rough economic times may be looming on the horizon.
“Bank regulations in America are among the most strict and comprehensive in the world. Contrary to the Biden administration, I don’t think we need more regulations on banks,” said Russ. “The fundamentals are in place. SVB just needed to follow sound practices and the California regulators maybe should have stepped in sooner with guidance.”
“Stress testing the portfolio of a bank is a regular and ongoing practice. California regulators let SVB get out of hand before they identified the weakness in the bank holdings,” Russ continued. “The loan to deposit ratio is also a key indicator of good financial health and liquidity. SVB was clearly over loaned outside of the ratios. Poor liquidity puts extreme pressure on a bank’s capital and the capital to asset ratio is also a critical ratio.”
The State has no direct investments or holdings in Silicon Valley Bank. Some of the pension portfolios took minor changes as indexed funds adjusted to the market but remain on a profitable path.
Russ commented, “The State Treasurer’s office has very conservative investment practices in place to keep these kinds of events from harming us, and my office ensures those practices are precisely followed.”
The Oklahoma State Banking Department has been through some of the toughest times in history making them very seasoned and wise overseers. They have experienced senior leadership that works very close with Oklahoma banks to keep them safe and strong.
“At the end of the day, Oklahoma is in great financial condition and ready to ride out potentially rough economic times in the future,” said Russ.
