The issue of being unbanked is real in Indian Country. Indeed, 12.2% of American Indian or Alaska Native households are unbanked, nearly triple the 4.2% national average, according to a 2023 FDIC survey.
“I think that percentage is a little low, actually,” says Thomas Ogaard, CEO of Native American Bank in Denver, a $384.5 million-asset, multi-tribally owned national community development bank serving Indian Country across the U.S.
The reasons for higher unbanked levels vary. Roughly half of Native Americans live on reservations, the vast majority of which are rural with limited economies, Ogaard says. As such, many communities remain cash-based, and going to the nearest bank can mean a one-hour round trip or longer depending on where a person lives on the reservation—an ongoing challenge in reservation banking access.
“There is also a lack of trust, and perhaps part of that is that they’ve not had access, so it’s intimidating going into banks,” says Ogaard. “They don’t know the individuals working in banks, because they don’t live in their community.”
Native American Bank, like other Native-owned banks, is trying to counter this by opening branches on reservations and staffing them with tribal members. Even so, people will often come to the branch only to cash their paychecks or per-capita payments from tribal income.
“A significant number of people think using just cash is the best thing for them,” Ogaard says. “So, while we try to reach as many people as possible, we’re not always successful getting them to open accounts.”
Tribal banking strategy: relationships first, products later
AllNations Bank in Calumet, Oklahoma, owned by the Absentee Shawnee Tribe, tries to engage unbanked individuals by “focusing on relationships before products,” says Jill Maple, CEO and CFO of the $86.6 million-asset community bank.
“Rather than simply selling accounts, we take time to understand each person’s goals and financial situation,” Maple says. “By providing education, personalized service, local decision-making and banking solutions tailored to individual needs, we help people see the value of establishing a trusted banking relationship.”
Less-rural tribal communities also struggle with unbanked issues, including on the Flathead Indian Reservation, says Andrew West, president and CEO of $178 million‑asset Eagle Bank in Polson, Montana, which serves this community.
The community bank, owned by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, is on the south shore of Flathead Lake on the way to Glacier National Park, an area with a robust tourist economy. Moreover, non-Native Americans are increasingly moving to the scenic area.
“However, there are still haves and have-nots here, just like everywhere else in the world,” West says. “We have no way of knowing how many tribal members or other people in our community are unbanked, but we have tried to make it easy to bank here. If we don’t do it, who will?”
Likewise, at $105 million-asset Legacy Bank in Murrieta, California, owned by the Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians, bank president Michael Vantrease says there are likely fewer unbanked tribal members in the Inland Empire of southern California, where the bank is located, than in more rural areas.
Still, there are those in the area—both tribal members and non-tribal customers—who do not trust banks or who have had accounts closed due to bad checks and need encouragement to re-enter the world of banking, Vantrease says.
Legacy Bank also offers banking services to tribes in northern California, where some of their members live in very rural areas.
“We’re trying to take the bank to them,” he says. Legacy Bank has placed ATMs on some of the reservations and is considering installing interactive teller machines (ITMs), so members can cash checks and engage virtually with bank team members. Other tribes have also expressed interest in having a branch closer to their reservation.
Q&A: How can community banks reach unbanked populations in tribal communities?
How can community banks encourage more Native Americans to enter the banking world? Two experts—Tony Cookson, a finance professor at Pennsylvania State University, and Cynthia Tam, CEO of Native Finance Development Corporation—share their insights.
What are best practices for banking underserved communities, including Native customers?
Cookson: Our research shows that early life exposures to banking can be beneficial in that they increase trust and promote a kind of learning-by-doing financial literacy. Community banks are in a great position to do this, because they can be a friendly way to navigate some of those early financial experiences for people. Especially if community banks employ people in the community who others can trust, people who are underbanked will find engaging with financial matters less ominous.
Tam: Engagement begins with respecting tribal sovereignty and community boundaries. Rather than relying on standard outreach like job fairs or external conferences, bankers must do the grassroots work: formally request permission from tribal leadership before coming onto reservation land, listen from a place of cultural humility and treat community members as partners. Sustainable banking access is not about imposing off-the-shelf products; it requires co-designing financial solutions that fit the community’s lived economic reality.
Do mobile branches help with reservation banking access?
Cookson: It is great to make banks more physically accessible, but if it feels like the bank is selling something from outside of the community to people who chose not to engage for other reasons, it may not be effective. Embedding in local cultural institutions is crucial to translating these ideas.
What resources can banks support to expand community bank financial inclusion solutions?
Tam: Our Tribal Personal Finance + Seven Generations framework—the first nationally accredited curriculum tailored to Native high school students—has already received backing from the Administration for Native Americans, the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco and the California Department of Education. Community banks should consider sponsoring our teacher training cohorts and funding the $500 educator stipends required to bring this framework into classrooms.
Financial literacy programs for tribal members: building trust through education
AllNations Bank offers financial literacy training through partnerships with tribal programs, such as the Absentee Shawnee Housing Authority, and works with organizations like the Oklahoma Native Asset Coalition to provide one-on-one free financial education, says Maple.
AllNations has also co-hosted financial lunch-and-learns with the Absentee Shawnee Tribe for teenagers, provides free educational resources through its online learning hub and hosts free monthly webinars.
“Financial literacy is a major part of our mission,” Maple says. “Our goal is to give people the knowledge and confidence they need to make informed financial decisions.”
According to Vantrease, Legacy Bank offers financial wellness classes open to all tribes and community organizations, including tailoring classes to high school seniors. Many tribes require graduating seniors to take such classes before they can start receiving income distribution checks from the tribe’s casino.
“In these classes, we talk about good financial behaviors—what a budget looks like for you, what a spending plan looks like for you, the whole conversation around needs and wants,” Vantrease says. “Even if one person walks away with different behaviors, starts saving and spending more wisely so they can obtain more of their money for the future, we’ve succeeded.”
Native American Bank currently offers one-on-one training in branches to tribal members about what it takes to open a bank account. It plans to begin offering financial literacy classes on a groupwide basis for both Native and non-Native individuals, Ogaard says.
“We try to take the mystique out of working with a bank,” he says. “It’s all about building trust in Indian Country, interacting face-to-face, making sure that the individual comes away with a working knowledge of how to handle a banking relationship and what that looks like.”
F&M Bank in Edmund, Oklahoma, offers group financial literacy classes onsite or via Zoom for any reservation that receives economic development financing from the $925 million-asset community bank, says Barry Anderson, president and COO. The bank is owned by Anderson’s family, members of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, and Anderson is a member of ICBA’s Minority Bank Advisory Council and its Consumer Financial Services Committee.
“We seem to have more response from younger people as they enter the workforce and get to the point where they need a checking account,” he says. “In the classes, we focus on what they will need to open their first account. For ID, they can check with their local bank if a tribal ID is OK, or whether they will need a state-issued ID such as a driver’s license.”
Looking ahead: the future of Native American banking and financial inclusion
What does the future hold for Native Americans and banking? The younger set, in particular, will rewrite the story, says Thomas Ogaard, CEO of Native American Bank in Denver.
“Younger generations are much more tech savvy, and the vast majority are using any number of apps on their phone, so a bank app is really no different,” Ogaard says. “I absolutely believe that as time goes by, the number of Native Americans who are unbanked will diminish.”
Banking services in Indian County will also likely evolve to keep up with the latest industry developments.
“The mission focus of Native American Bank is and will continue to be Indian Country,” Ogaard says. “Keeping current on how we handle financial services is going to be top of mind for us.”
Account access solutions: low-fee checking, second chance banking and digital tools
At Native American Bank’s Browning, Montana, office on the Blackfeet Reservation, it was not uncommon to see 100 people waiting in line to cash checks. So, the community bank strongly encouraged members of that tribe and others to open a checking account with direct deposit—and it worked. With the preponderance of those individuals now on direct deposit, the wait line at the Browning branch drastically decreased, Ogaard says.
The community bank is also educating tribal members on how to use its mobile bank app, including remote check deposit, so they don’t need to drive an hour or more to the branch if they don’t have direct deposit, he says. However, several tribal communities don’t have broadband internet, so the option of using the app can be limited.
Eagle Bank offers a low minimum balance of $25 on its checking account with no overdraft or other fees, and the bank doesn’t screen anyone, meaning they can have bad checks from former accounts, West says.
“Anyone who wants a bank account can have one if they show up with an ID,” he says.
For Soboba tribal members, Legacy Bank offers “Founder’s Accounts” that are free of service charges and come with branded debit cards with the tribe’s name on them.
“We hope that this will serve as a sense of pride for them,” Vantrease says. “When they pull out their debit card at the dry cleaner, they can think, ‘That’s my bank—we own the bank.’”
Members of other tribes can open Legacy Bank checking accounts online, and the community bank also offers “second chance” accounts for individuals—tribal members or otherwise—who have had accounts closed at other banks, he says.
Moving beyond checking: small-dollar loans and long-term financial foundations
12.2%
of American Indian or Alaska Native households are unbanked, nearly triple the 4.2% national average.
Source: FDIC
In addition to conventional banking products and services, all these Native-owned banks offer small personal loans and other products for those in need.
Eagle Bank makes small loans that don’t have a minimum size, West says. Typically, other banks in the area won’t make loans under $3,000, because it doesn’t make economic sense for them—but Eagle Bank will.
“It’s a loss leader, but we do it to support the unbanked and underbanked to do things like paying bills or buying an appliance,” he says. The community bank also offers specialized loans for members of the federally recognized Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, including Housing and Urban Development (HUD) 184 mortgage loans.
Legacy Bank offers personal loans and car loans, and for members of tribes in more rural areas, the bank will process applications via secure encrypted email, Vantrease says.
At AllNations Bank, once someone becomes a customer, the community bank helps them build a broader financial foundation through savings accounts, consumer lending, home and agricultural financing, business banking services and digital banking tools, Maple says.
“We strive to be a lifelong financial partner,” she says. “We also continue providing education and financial guidance, so that as customers’ needs evolve, we can help them reach their next financial milestone.”
For many members of the tribes that Native American Bank serves, there’s “a lot of trepidation” around applying for a small personal loan, Ogaard says. To ease their concern, the bank offers videos on its website about what it takes to apply for a small personal loan, as well as a car loan, credit card and even small business checking.
“We want to take care of our tribal members,” he says. “We’ve heard an awful lot from tribal leadership that this is an important element that gets missed. They want to see that we are really advancing the economic vitality of their communities.”