WASHINGTON, DC – September 18, 2026 (STL.News) The Federal Reserve Board has terminated a two-year enforcement action against Bank of Eufaula and its parent company, SNB Bancshares Inc., closing an institutional regulatory action that required extensive reforms involving corporate governance, internal controls, lending, credit risk, and oversight at the Oklahoma bank.
The Federal Reserve announced Friday that the Written Agreement originally entered into with the Eufaula, Oklahoma-based institutions on Aug. 7, 2024, was terminated effective Sept. 3, 2026.
The Fed’s brief announcement did not explain specifically what corrective actions led regulators to terminate the agreement.
The termination comes, however, after the Federal Reserve disclosed separate enforcement actions earlier this year involving the bank’s former chief executive officer and its president.
Those cases revealed more about problems at the bank, including Federal Reserve allegations involving millions of dollars in lending to a company owned by a close relative of the former CEO, persistent overdrafts, conflicts of interest, and fabricated board meeting minutes.
The individual enforcement proceedings are separate from the institutional Written Agreement that the Fed has now terminated.
Fed imposed broad requirements in 2024
The original Written Agreement followed a Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City examination of Bank of Eufaula that began Feb. 1, 2024.
Under the agreement, SNB Bancshares and Bank of Eufaula were required to strengthen board oversight and address deficiencies in multiple areas of the institution’s operations.
Among other requirements, the agreement called for an independent review of corporate governance and management practices, along with improvements to internal controls and segregation of duties.
The bank was also required to strengthen its conflict-of-interest policies and develop procedures governing transactions involving insiders and their related interests.
Lending practices were another major focus.
Regulators required improvements to loan underwriting and administration, credit-risk management, collateral documentation, loan grading and independent loan review.
The agreement also required stronger controls over overdrafts, including procedures to identify and monitor overdrawn accounts, determine who could authorize payments against those accounts, and report significant overdrafts to the board.
Those requirements became particularly notable following enforcement actions the Federal Reserve announced in June 2026.
Former CEO barred from banking
On June 18, the Federal Reserve announced that former Bank of Eufaula CEO Thomas W. Engelbrecht had been prohibited from participating in the banking industry and assessed a $125,000 civil money penalty.
Engelbrecht served as chief executive officer and director of Bank of Eufaula and as a director of SNB Bancshares.
The Fed said Engelbrecht used his position to cause the bank to provide what regulators described as imprudent extensions of credit to a company owned by a relative.
The Federal Reserve also alleged that Engelbrecht helped fabricate bank board meeting minutes.
The details contained in the Fed’s consent order went substantially beyond its accompanying press release.
According to the order, from 2020 through 2023, Engelbrecht repeatedly caused Bank of Eufaula to make more than $5 million in loans to a company owned by a close relative.
Federal regulators alleged that some loan proceeds were used to pay interest on existing Bank of Eufaula loans or to cover overdrafts despite the company’s financial difficulties.
The Fed further alleged that Engelbrecht repeatedly caused overdraft fees to be waived and overdrafts to be approved for the company while its accounts were persistently overdrawn.
At times, according to the Federal Reserve order, the overdrafts exceeded $1 million.
The Fed also alleged that Engelbrecht personally loaned nearly $200,000 to the company during 2022 and 2023, which regulators said compounded his conflict of interest.
Engelbrecht consented to the Federal Reserve order without admitting or denying its allegations.
Fed alleged fabricated board minutes
Another allegation involved Bank of Eufaula’s corporate records during the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the Federal Reserve, from about April 2020 through April 2021, Engelbrecht stopped holding in-person board meetings.
The Fed alleged that he nevertheless fabricated or caused others to fabricate minutes purporting to document board meetings and approval of bank actions.
One transaction reflected in those records was an approximately $1.9 million loan to the relative’s company through the Federal Reserve’s Main Street Lending Program.
The Main Street Lending Program was created during the COVID-19 economic crisis to provide credit to small and medium-sized businesses and nonprofit organizations that were in sound financial condition before the pandemic.
According to the enforcement order, a 95% participation interest in the Bank of Eufaula loan was sold to the Federal Reserve’s Main Street special-purpose vehicle.
The Federal Reserve alleged that Bank of Eufaula ultimately suffered more than $3.5 million in losses associated with loans and overdrafts involving the company.
The Fed’s Main Street special-purpose vehicle suffered approximately $1.88 million in losses connected with the Main Street loan, according to the order.
The Federal Reserve said Engelbrecht’s alleged conduct involved violations of law or regulation, breaches of fiduciary duty or unsafe or unsound banking practices and involved personal dishonesty or willful or continuing disregard for the bank’s safety and soundness.
Because the matter was resolved through a consent order, those statements represent the Federal Reserve’s allegations and findings contained in the order; Engelbrecht did not admit or deny them.
Bank president also faced Fed action
The Federal Reserve announced another enforcement action against Bank of Eufaula one week later.
On June 25, the Fed disclosed a consent cease-and-desist order against Jason Burns, president and director of Bank of Eufaula and a director of SNB Bancshares.
The Federal Reserve categorized the matter as involving “Unsafe Lending Practices.”
According to the consent order, Burns managed the bank’s lending relationship with the company owned by Engelbrecht’s close relative.
The Fed said Burns presented multiple loans totaling more than $5 million to the bank’s board for approval.
Regulators alleged that some of the loan proceeds were used to pay interest on existing loans or overdrafts despite the borrower’s financial difficulties.
The Federal Reserve also alleged that Burns failed to adequately assess collateral supporting the credit relationship and repeatedly waived overdraft fees and approved overdrafts that at times exceeded $1 million.
The order also connected Burns to records provided to federal regulators.
According to the Fed, Burns was responsible for compiling and providing certain Bank of Eufaula records to the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.
Those records included minutes purporting to document board meetings between approximately April 2020 and April 2021.
The Federal Reserve alleged that the board had not actually met during that period.
The records included minutes reflecting purported board approval of the approximately $1.9 million Main Street Lending Program loan.
Burns consented to the Federal Reserve’s cease-and-desist order without admitting or denying its allegations.
Unlike Engelbrecht, Burns was not prohibited from working in banking.
The consent order imposed requirements concerning his conduct while serving as an institution-affiliated party, including compliance with applicable laws and regulations, adherence to bank policies and procedures, avoidance of unsafe or unsound banking practices and compliance with fiduciary obligations.
Institutional enforcement action now terminated
Against that background, the Federal Reserve’s Sept. 18 announcement represents a significant change in Bank of Eufaula’s regulatory position.
The 2024 Written Agreement applied directly to Bank of Eufaula and SNB Bancshares and imposed broad requirements intended to correct institutional deficiencies.
The Federal Reserve has now formally terminated that agreement.
The Fed did not provide a detailed explanation of the remediation the bank undertook or identify which specific improvements led to the termination.
Termination therefore should not be interpreted as erasing the bank’s regulatory history or reversing the separate enforcement proceedings involving Engelbrecht and Burns.
Those are separate regulatory actions.
Instead, Friday’s announcement establishes that the Federal Reserve determined that the particular Written Agreement imposed on Bank of Eufaula and SNB Bancshares in August 2024 could be terminated effective Sept. 3.
Bank underwent substantial changes
Bank of Eufaula is a relatively small community bank headquartered in Eufaula, Oklahoma.
Regulatory financial data indicate that the institution has contracted considerably since the period immediately preceding the 2024 Federal Reserve enforcement action.
That contraction provides additional context for the bank’s two-year regulatory period, although the Federal Reserve did not say Friday that changes in the bank’s balance sheet caused it to terminate the Written Agreement.
The regulatory history also illustrates why the Fed’s otherwise brief Sept. 18 announcement carries significance beyond the termination itself.
What began publicly in 2024 as a broad supervisory agreement requiring stronger governance, lending practices, internal controls, and board oversight was followed in 2026 by detailed individual enforcement proceedings describing the conduct underlying some of the concerns surrounding the bank.
The former CEO was ultimately prohibited from participating in banking and fined $125,000.
The bank’s president became subject to a separate cease-and-desist order concerning unsafe lending practices.
The Federal Reserve also alleged losses of more than $3.5 million to Bank of Eufaula and approximately $1.88 million to the Federal Reserve’s Main Street special-purpose vehicle arising from the lending relationship described in its enforcement orders.
Now, more than two years after the original Written Agreement was executed, the institutional enforcement action against Bank of Eufaula and SNB Bancshares has ended.
The Federal Reserve has not publicly detailed the corrective steps that satisfied regulators or whether additional supervisory concerns remain outside the terminated agreement.
For Bank of Eufaula, however, the Sept. 3 termination marks the formal conclusion of the broad Federal Reserve enforcement agreement that had governed significant portions of the institution’s operations since August 2024.
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