BancFirst to bulk up in Tulsa by acquiring Oklahoma rival

• Key takeaway: BancFirst in Oklahoma City has jumped back into the M&A market. It announced a deal for Tulsa-based SpiritBank Wednesday, seven months after completing another in-state acquisition.
• Supporting data: Industry-wide, banks announced 69 mergers between Jan. 1 and June 5.
• Forward look: Acquiring SpiritBank would give BancFirst about a 6.5% share of Tulsa's nearly $38 billion deposit market.

BancFirst in Oklahoma City has agreed to acquire a deposit-rich in-state rival, Tulsa-based SpiritBank, for an undisclosed sum.

The $940 million-asset SpiritBank, whose roots date back to 1916, is controlled by the Kelly family.

The deal, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter, would deepen the $15 billion-asset BancFirst's footprint in the Tulsa metropolitan statistical area. The combined company would hold about 6.5% of the Tulsa market's $37.9 billion deposit market.

"Oklahoma is our home and we are excited to bring two outstanding communities, Bristow and Sapulpa, into our family," BancFirst CEO David Harlow said Wednesday in a press release, referring to a pair of Tulsa suburbs. "Expanding our Tulsa base is equally valuable."

SpiritBank, which reported first-quarter net income totaling $2.8 million, had about $611 million of loans on its books on March 31. SpiritBank's deposits totaled $847.2 million, offering plenty of funding for BancFirst's more active lending operation.

A BancFirst spokesperson had not responded to a request for comment at deadline.

BancFirst's deal for SpiritBank comes amid a slowdown in merger-and-acquisition activity, although some observers expect the pace of industry consolidation to quicken materially in the near future. According to Seaport Research Partners analyst Laurie Havener Hunsicker, banks announced 69 mergers between Jan. 1 and June 5. For all of 2025, there were 188 deals.

Hunsicker attributed the more sluggish 2026 M&A pace to concerns about inflation and the war in the Middle East, which have weighed on banks' stock prices.

"Bank stocks — acquisition currencies — are front-line for economic woes, real or perceived," Hunsicker wrote Monday in a research note. 

BancFirst, though publicly traded, is also family-controlled. Chairman of the Board David Rainbolt is the son of company founder Gene Rainbolt.

The company's roots trace back to 1962, when Gene Rainbolt acquired a small community bank in Purcell, Oklahoma. Rainbolt, a towering figure in Oklahoma banking, acquired a second Oklahoma community bank in 1965, establishing his reputation as a buyer, which has continued throughout BancFirst's 64-year history.

Indeed, the planned purchase of SpiritBank, announced late Wednesday, comes seven months after BancFirst completed a $33 million deal for another in-state institution, the $385 million-asset American Bank of Oklahoma in Collinsville. 

BancFirst's most recent acquisition before American Bank, of the $285 million-asset First National Bank and Trust Company of Vinita in Vinita, Oklahoma, came in 2021.

The population of the Tulsa metropolitan area, Oklahoma's second largest after Oklahoma City,  totaled 1.07 million on July 1, 2025, up about 5% since 2020. The median household income is $69,658, about 83% of the $83,730 national average.

BancFirst, which operates 109 branches in the Sooner State, is the second-largest bank headquartered in Oklahoma, behind the $53.8 billion-asset BOK Financial in Tulsa. BancFirst reported net income of $63 million for the three months ending March 31, up from $56 million a year earlier, prior to the American Bank merger. 

SpiritBank CEO Rick Harper said in the press release that his company "had choices" for merger partners, but chose BancFirst "because they reflect our own customer and community commitment."

"This transaction will be a win-win for everyone," Harper added. 

Harper had not responded to a reporter's inquiry about other potential suitors at deadline.