BancFirst wins approval to buy SpiritBank after a Tulsa lending objection is heard

Sept. 22, 2026 — The Federal Reserve has approved BancFirst Corp.'s purchase of Spirit BankCorp, adding SpiritBank's six branches in Tulsa, Sapulpa and Bristow to Oklahoma's third-largest banking company. BancFirst, with about $15.1 billion in assets, focuses on commercial lending and bought Collinsville-based AmeriBank last year.

One commenter filed four objections. Citing federal mortgage data, the commenter said BancFirst made fewer home loans to Black Oklahomans in 2025 than in 2024, while lending to white borrowers rose slightly, and that a low share of its Tulsa County loans were in majority-minority neighborhoods.

The objection comes from a city with a painful history. In 1921 a white mob destroyed Tulsa's Greenwood district, known as Black Wall Street, killing an estimated 150 to 300 people. Residents rebuilt, but much of what they rebuilt was cleared by urban renewal in the 1970s. In 2021, the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, which supervises BancFirst, wrote that Greenwood and other primarily Black north Tulsa communities have continued to face economic challenges into this century.

BancFirst said the commenter's count left out borrowers reported as multiracial or as joint applicants, and that 25% of its 2025 Tulsa loans went to borrowers in majority-minority census tracts. The commenter urged the Fed to weigh single-race data as well. The Fed cited BancFirst's "Satisfactory" community lending rating, found competition would change little and denied the commenter's request for a public hearing. BancFirst says it may later close one SpiritBank branch. All seven Fed governors voted to approve.

The wall: The commenter is not named in the order; BancFirst's leadership has not commented beyond the order.

Tier: Confirmed (historical context from KC Fed, OHS, History.com)

Sources

• Federal Reserve Order No. 2026-23
• Federal Reserve release, Sept. 22, 2026
• Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Oklahoma Economist, May 26, 2021
• Oklahoma Historical Society
• History.com, Tulsa Race Massacre
• BancFirst 8-K, June 10, 2026

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