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UNO Study Tracks Drop In Community Banks

A study by the University of New Orleans shows a continued decline in the number of community banks. The drop is a bit slower in New Orleans.

UNO finance professor Kabir Hassan says the report uses information from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. He found the number of community banks dropped in half over the past 20 years.

Hassan says big banks are buying smaller ones to keep profits up while interest rates are down.

That, he says, is bad news for consumers.

“If you ever tried to get something at a big bank — Chase or Wells Fargo — what do you do? You end up talking to a machine all the time," he said. "You will no longer be going to your community bank at the corner of your street. And when they go there they greet you, they know you. They’re not all machine now.” 

Hassan says community banks in New Orleans are declining at a slower rate than nationally, and he says the average assets in those banks are up 188 percent. He says that shows how efficient a smaller bank can operate.

The study was underwritten in part by the New Orleans-based Gulf Coast Bank and Trust Company.

Eileen is a news reporter and producer for WWNO. She researches, reports and produces the local daily news items. Eileen relocated to New Orleans in 2008 after working as a writer and producer with the Associated Press in Washington, D.C. for seven years.

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