The banking corridor in downtown New Orleans is feeling an uneasiness as the major financial markets take a plunge with the financial meltdown on Wall Street.

WWL-TV

John Turner, president of the 125-year old Whitney Bank says despite the trouble facing some of his national counterparts the vast majority of Louisiana banks are doing just fine.

"The commercial banking industry is sound," said Turner. "It's a good place to keep your money. It is safe. We are well capitalized and we're going to weather this storm."

That said, Turner admits Whitney is not totally insulated from the downturn in the economy.

"We have some exposure and it's been documented to problem loans in Florida as a result of some acquisitions that we made, but it's not anything that we as a company can't handle, and aren't prepared to handle and aren't handling well," said Turner."

Metairie Bank President Rick Smith says his bank is now keeping its distance from those Wall Street lenders now giving his business a bad name.

"In this time, we're keeping that amount that we're selling lower by investing in other things," said Smith. "We're not laying off as much cash because we truly don't know the financial condition of what are called our upstream correspondents."

Most New Orleans banks never invested too heavily in sub-prime mortgages and other types of risky home loans that got the bigger national banks in trouble. Gulf Coast Bank President Guy Williams says that one good thing that came with Hurricane Katrina.

"The real epicenter of the crisis occurred during the Katrina year and the Katrina aftermath,” said Williams. "We were so busy rebuilding, we being all of the banks and financial institutions in south Louisiana, that we didn't get involved."

"We're more conservative," said Smith. "We just don't believe in what amounts to a huge bait and switch."

The bankers have advice for consumers.

"I think they should know something about the bank that they deposit with," said Turner.

"I think the first thing is to pause for a moment and take a deep breath," said Williams. The federal government insures bank deposits. No one has ever lost a nickel in an FDIC insured deposit.

Bankers say if you have more than $100,000 in your individual account or more than $250,000 in your retirement account ask your bank to split the money into separate accounts so you can stay under the FDIC guaranteed amounts.