Examiner Spotlight: Joe Hooks

Oklahoma native Joe Hooks pulled the cord on some of the biggest banking failures during the 1980s. He uncovered scores of unsupported loans issued by banks eager to do business but less eager to confirm a borrower’s ability to pay. In the case of one $20 million loan, the only supporting document was a single sheet of paper stating that the borrower played football for the University of Oklahoma.

Hooks earned the ire of a prominent banker, Hugh McColl, after finding poor underwriting in his bank’s real estate portfolio and raising questions about ambitious expansion plans.

McColl was infuriated. In his autobiography, he recounted a meeting with President George H. W. Bush and his staff. “The problem you all have is that you think you are running this country,” McColl told the group. “There is only one man running this country. … He’s the Chief National Bank Examiner on real estate,” McColl said of Hooks. “He’s the man who decides who gets credit in this country. He’s the grim reaper. He marches into banks’ real estate divisions and shuts them down.”

Hooks retired in 1997. And McColl? His bank, NCNB, became Bank of America.

An article highlighting Joe Hooks from the Boston Globe on February 21, 1990.