DUNMORE, Pa. — After two bank failures in less than a week in the U.S., many of us may wonder if our money is safe.
After two U.S. banks failed and a third had to be rescued by the Federal Reserve, some people began to pull their money from some banks.
Jerry Champi is the president and CEO of FNCB Bank based in Dunmore. He and his colleagues were concerned about it early on and what it would mean for the future.
"It puts a little bit of fear and slight panic, you know, out there because there's the fear of unknown, really is what we deal with mostly," Champi said.
The failed banks dealt with billions of dollars in assets from large companies. Champi says for smaller community banks, a collapse like that is not likely to happen because most accounts are insured by the FDIC.
"Our typical average client that we serve as on a depository and loan basis really should not see any ramification whatsoever from this," Champi said. "The banking community throughout our country, we have some pretty good capital levels, able to withstand some things. Hopefully, we're not going to be seeing too much of a credit crisis. This is not an asset issue. It's a credit issue. This really is truly a liquidity issue."
Champi says the biggest thing for people to take away from all of this is to educate themselves by reaching out to their bank and getting assurance that their money is safe.
"If you maintain less than $250,000 in deposits, you really don't have any concern at all from an FDIC insurance protection standpoint. But at the same time, we also want to be able to continue to make loans for your house, for your car, for your small business. And that's going to be important to keep the economy moving forward."
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