An investment in a hometown bank
In 1967, John Massey invested in Durant Bank and Trust in southeastern Oklahoma. He became chairman in 1974, acquired a controlling interest in 1986 and changed the bank’s name to First United Bank in 1998. Those milestones, recorded in the bank’s June 2022 remembrance of Massey, explain the modern franchise more clearly than its current size alone: a local investment became a controlling ownership position, then a platform for a broader banking business. [3]
The institution itself was older. The FDIC records First United Bank and Trust Company, certificate 4239, as established in 1900 and headquartered in Durant. Massey did not found a new bank in 1967; he entered an existing one. The legal name and Oklahoma location also identify which First United this profile describes, since similar banking names are used elsewhere. [1][3]
Family ownership and current leadership
John Massey’s career extended beyond banking. The bank’s remembrance describes a businessman who owned or established enterprises including apartments, motels, real-estate developments and laundromats alongside his banking interests. He died on June 24, 2022, aged 86, having become chairman emeritus of First United. The account is the institution’s tribute to its longtime owner and leader, rather than an independent assessment of his business record. [3]
The current bank biography identifies Greg Massey as chairman and chief executive of First United Bank & Trust Company. Its branch material describes First United as family-owned and operated. Greg’s stated responsibilities emphasize the organization’s culture, long-term development and Oklahoma–Texas communities. [4][5]
A larger network serving familiar customers
First United’s own description of its market centers on consumers and small-to-mid-sized businesses. Its banking locations across Oklahoma and Texas connect checking and savings accounts with commercial lending, mortgages, trust and investment services, and insurance. The bank describes four operating groups: banking, mortgage, insurance and wealth. These are categories of services, not four separately insured banks. [6]
The bank’s overview, drawing on its 2025 impact report, lists more than 362,000 customers and 75 community banking locations. These company-reported operating measures convey the distance traveled from a single-location bank, while the common-quarter FDIC figures below provide the separately dated financial snapshot. A local business relationship can now involve routine deposits, wires, treasury services and borrowing, alongside the owner’s household accounts. The Tulsa branch’s published service list illustrates that combination. [5][6]
Home finance connects the bank with builders and buyers
Mortgage lending is a distinct part of First United’s customer offering. The mortgage operation serves homebuyers, builders and real-estate professionals in Oklahoma and Texas, with in-house processing, underwriting, closing and funding. Those steps take a loan from application and document review through the decision to lend and the transfer of money at closing. The bank presents them as a coordinated operation. [7]
Its products cover different stages of a housing project: land or lot purchases, short-term construction financing, and a completed home’s longer-term mortgage. It also offers fixed-rate and adjustable-rate loans, refinancing and larger-balance mortgages. The website makes clear that available products vary by state and depend on credit approval. The range helps explain why First United’s housing business involves both the purchase of an existing home and the work of bringing new homes to market. [7]
A banking brand built around a broader purpose
First United gives its public identity an unusually prominent values framework. Its “Spend Life Wisely” purpose combines financial well-being with faith, health and wellness, and personal growth. This is how the bank describes its culture and educational outreach; it is not a measured claim that its services improve every customer’s life. The same overview sets a goal of reaching 10 million lives by 2030. That is an aspiration, not an achieved result. [6]
For its 125th anniversary, the bank invited people to submit personal stories for a year-long advertising campaign. The project sought examples across those four themes, showing how the purpose is used in marketing as well as in the bank’s formal statements. The financial-services business remains conventional in its core activities, while the language surrounding it deliberately extends beyond money. [8]
Local relationships alongside digital banking
An April 10, 2026 bank article made its positioning explicit: First United said it intended to keep local relationships central while continuing to invest in technology. That is the bank’s stated strategy in a period of consolidation, rather than evidence that every merger weakens service or that personal relationships alone determine banking outcomes. It connects the institution’s family-business history with the way it now presents a much larger network. [9]
The digital-banking offering makes the practical side visible. Customers can inspect balances and transactions, transfer funds, schedule bills, manage debit cards and receive alerts; eligible checks can be deposited through the mobile app. These capabilities allow ordinary account activity to move beyond branch hours, while lending, home finance and more complicated customer needs still sit within the wider banking operation. The resulting model combines a regional footprint with an emphasis on recognizable local service. [10]
The insured bank at June 30, 2026
The FDIC reports $16.594 billion of assets, $13.326 billion of deposits, $12.666 billion of net loans and leases, and $1.613 billion of equity for the insured bank at June 30, 2026. Net income of $75.233 million covers the first six months of 2026. These bank-only figures are converted from thousands of dollars; they are not consolidated parent results or standalone second-quarter profit. [2]
Real-estate loans totaled $11.277 billion, approximately 88.2% of gross loans and leases. That broad category includes different kinds of property lending and is not synonymous with commercial real estate. Securities totaled $2.252 billion. [2]
Sources
- FDIC institution directory, October 2, 2026 index; reviewed October 5Official sourceBack to text: ↑
- FDIC June 30, 2026 bank financials; dollar fields in thousands; income year to dateOfficial sourceBack to text: ↑1↑2
- First United remembrance of John Massey, June 27, 2022SourceBack to text: ↑1↑2↑3
- First United current Greg Massey biography; reviewed October 5, 2026SourceBack to text: ↑
- First United Tulsa branch: family ownership and services; reviewed October 5, 2026SourceBack to text: ↑1↑2
- First United official overview, including company-reported 2025 impact figures; reviewed October 5, 2026SourceBack to text: ↑1↑2↑3↑4
- First United mortgage products and operating process; reviewed October 5, 2026SourceBack to text: ↑1↑2
- First United 125th-anniversary campaign explanation; reviewed October 5, 2026SourceBack to text: ↑
- First United statement on community banking and technology, April 10, 2026SourceBack to text: ↑
- First United current digital-banking features; reviewed October 5, 2026SourceBack to text: ↑