Jane Long, executive vice president and CEO of Roxboro Savings Bank said she had remembered that quote from Proverbs many times over the past couple of weeks and that she had also been reminding customers — of RSB and other banks here —  “A lot of the reason we’re having the problems we are now (on Wall Street) and what is causing liquidity issues is a direct fear of what could happen.”

Long, who sits on the state Banking Commission, said she could assure North Carolinians that “there is oversight provided” for deposit banks and that “we are regulated now more than we’ve ever been.”

Long said deregulation was one of several words and terms that had been bandied about by the media lately that fueled fears and concerns regarding banking. She said customers and investors should remember that the current crisis on Wall Street was due to investment banks, which do not fall under the same scrutiny as Roxboro Savings and other deposit institutions.

The deposit banking industry, she said, “is well capitalized.”

By virtue of her Banking Commission membership, Long said she knew that “we entered into this thing [current Wall Street instability] in good shape. The FDIC is safe and sound” as well, she added.

FDIC insurance covers depositors against loss of their assets.

“The FDIC was put into place after the Great Depression,” Long said, expressly to prevent losses like those resulting from the Depression-era runs on banks from happening again.

“The federal government and the banks learned their lesson,” she said of the run in 1929. Now, “banks pay their [FDIC] premiums,” she said, to be sure that they “protect the depositor.”

Since the current Wall Street fears began, Long said, she and her staff had advised their customers and customers from other banks in town to “remain calm.” >>

She added, “We encourage customers to contact their bank,” she said, so that they may be assured that their accounts are structured by ownership and type in a way that protects them.

For example, she explained, a married couple can be insured for up to $1 million through structured accounts. Each spouse can have an individual deposit or savings account of up to $100,000. A joint account of up to $100,000 can also be insured, as can two “payable on death” accounts, one in each spouse’s name. In addition, each spouse may have IRAs of up to $250,000 insured by FDIC.

On Friday afternoon, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, which has been dubbed the “Bailout Bill” following the Senate’s approval on Wednesday. That bill seeks to increase FDIC limits to $250,000 per account, Long said.

“If you are concerned,” Long advised customers, “come in so we can help you structure your funds so that you can sleep at night.”

Long said people should bear in mind that there is a big difference between local banks and the big investment firms, such as Lehman Brothers, that have been so hard hit in the housing and lending crisis.

Writing in the Opinion section of Wednesday’s Wall Street Journal, Nobel Prize in economics winner Edmund S. Phelps said, “Most of the big banks were shot through with short-termism, deceptive practices and self-dealing. We must institute basic changes in corporate governance and in management practice to restore responsibility and honesty for the sake of the economy and for the self-respect of the country.”

He wondered how “a trillion or two of losses in an economy with $40 trillion of financial wealth could bring high anxiety and, two weeks ago, near panic.”

Long said, “The banking system has been strong for a very long time,” but, she reiterated, “investment banks are totally different from those here on Main Street.”

If everyone “started to pull their money” from the local banks, she said, “it would kill liquidity” as it did in the Great Depression.

Person County’s only locally owned bank, Roxboro Savings Bank, Long said, “has $28 million in capital and we have money to lend. We are very proud of what we’ve done in this community for 85 years.”

SunTrust and BB&T branches in Roxboro referred The Courier-Times to corporate communications representatives for comment for this story.

The BB&T representative’s voice mail said she was out of the office for the day on Friday.

SunTrust’s Durham representative tried to return calls, but was caught up in a 24-hour-long, losing battle of phone-tag.

Wachovia, which on Friday afternoon was being fought over by Citigroup and Wells Fargo, did not immediately return a call and could not be reached by The C-T’s deadline Friday.

Wachovia is one of the largest holders of option adjustable-rate mortgages.