Sayings such as "It's as safe as a bank" or "You can bank on it" may not be as popular as in the past. With increasing concern about the solvency of some of the nation's biggest banks, people are taking a closer look at the safety of the banks with which they do business.

"Your money is safe in a bank," said Mississippi Banking Commissioner John S. Allison. "We have the best banking system in the world. It is highly regulated. When we find any trouble with a bank, we immediately start regulatory actions such as requiring the bank to change lending practices, moving management out or whatever the situation demands. We have tools we can use to keep the banking industry safe and sound."

Allison said banks in Mississippi are for the most part well run and well capitalized. While second quarter earnings this year are not nearly as high as have been seen in the past 12 to 15 quarters when there were some all-time record earnings, most banks are still showing a profit.

Conservative and cautious

There are pockets in the state where there had been a lot of development activity, and there has been a slowdown. That has challenged banks to be cautious. But Allison said the conservative nature of Mississippi banking separates it from banking in places like California, Florida and Nevada where there was exponential growth that people thought was never going to end.

"Banks in Mississippi have weathered the storm so far," Allison said. For seasoned bankers and regulators, this is not the first rodeo. We have great young bankers and examiners who have never seen downturns. But I have been at this 35-plus years, and we have seen numerous ups and downs in banking cycles. That is just the way things are. It is going to turn around. It may be two or three quarters, but we are cautiously optimistic things are going to start turning up again."

After the Great Depression in 1929 when a run on banks led to closings and depositors losing their money, the FDIC was created to insure bank deposits up to $100,000. So, if someone has a concern that his or her bank might be having financial troubles, the first thing to do is make sure there isn't more than $100,000 deposited in one bank.

There are ways to structure deposits so the entire assets are covered. For example, instead of a joint account, a husband and wife might want separate accounts of $100,000 each. Customers can go the FDIC website, www.fdic.gov, and click under "Is My Account Fully Insured?" to make sure they are covered.