Native Americans less likely to be in financial fields #IndustryFinance

The tribal nations of Oklahoma are among the top 10 ten industries for state-economic impact, yet Native people have the highest rating of unbanked households at 16.3%, which is three times higher than the national average.

This means that even though the tribes have offered $15.6 billion in economic impact and 113,442 jobs in 2019, Native individuals are statistically the least likely to use a bank or credit union, open a checking or savings account, or work in finances, according to an FDIC survey.

The Aspen Institute Finance Security Program (FSP) and Wells Fargo Bank partnered to conduct a study that determines what expanding Native representation can do for the financial services industry.

Dawson Her Many Horses, member of the Rosebud Sioux tribe of South Dakota, is the managing director and head of Native American banking for Wells Fargo.

Her Many Horses told the Tulsa World that Oklahoma is Wells Fargo’s biggest tribal market, due to the 39 federally recognized tribes that operate a plethora of businesses in the state.

He also said in researching for the study, he found that Natives are less likely to work in banking due to a lack of education in finance or a lack of awareness on financial career opportunities.

The study compared the lack of Natives in the financial services field to the lack of tribal attorneys in the 1970s.

Fifty years ago, there were only two dozen tribal attorneys, while today there are over 2,500. Her Many Horses aimed to find out how the legal field managed to bring in so much Native representation, and how the financial services field might do the same.

The study found that the key to getting more Natives interested in finances is connecting with high school and college students and evoking their passion for helping their tribe, community and family grow financially.

“I didn’t choose a career as much as I chose a cause, and that really was the empowerment of tribal nations,” said one of the study participants, a tribal attorney.

Chickasaw citizen Kelsey Parks serves as a consumer and product operations manager for BOK Financial in downtown Tulsa.

Parks said in a Tulsa World interview that mentors played a large role in choosing her career path in financial services. She received a double major from Oklahoma State University in entrepreneurship and marketing, with a minor in Native American studies.

“While I didn’t start on my career path with banking in mind, my entrepreneurship degree helped me realize I wanted to focus on helping businesses develop and continue to grow,” Parks said.

Her mentors during her college years are now mostly staff who work for the new Sovereignty Center at OSU, which provides supplementary material and courses for students and the public to learn about tribal law and other topics related to Native sovereignty.

Having financial literacy and a healthy relationship with banking is a form of individual sovereignty for Native people, and a form of tribal sovereignty for tribal entities, Parks said.

“Banking is a fundamental part of everyone’s life, so having access to it and having access to continuing education on finance — whether that’s saving, budgeting or investing — is a great way to continue to grow oneself and your independence, especially for tribal citizens,” she said.

BOK Financial has a team that focuses on Native American banking, providing specialized banking and lending services for tribes and tribal citizens.

Her Many Horses said the research study indicated that the more Native bankers there are at a financial institution, the higher the chances will be of having services that are important to those tribes.

“We do have a lot of programs at BOK that help tribal businesses and individuals,” Parks said. “Whether it’s helping a tribal business client with access to capital, or helping an individual get a mortgage, we’re here to help. There are so many Native-specific options, it’s empowering to know that our team can teach people about those options.”

BOK serves 60 tribal nations from all parts of the United States.

Parks gave an example of a tribe, whose name she declined to mention, that came to the BOK with a loan that they just couldn’t seem to pay off. The interest rates were just not working in their favor, and “they felt like they weren’t getting anywhere with it.”

BOK was able to consolidate the tribe’s debt and offer a loan service option that worked better for them.

“So if one of the tribal nations wanted to get a loan for a health center, that’s something we could help facilitate. And sometimes, there’s specific products and terms that we can kind of apply to that, because they are tribal businesses,” she said.

In support of tribal sovereignty, the BOK center accepts tribal ID as a valid form of identification, meaning Native people don’t need a driver’s license or state ID on them to open an account.

Parks said that the goal of working with tribal communities is to build generational wealth for Native families.

The Aspen FSP and Wells Fargo study suggested many actions to help young Native people find interest in finance, including hanging flyers in Native community centers.

Parks also said that she is proud that BOK sends out a team of financial services staff to schools, including high schools with large Native student populations, to provide financial literacy education as well as career insights.