Tupelo, Mississippi-based BancorpSouth announced last week that it would close 23 branches across 6 states. Today, we learned which Arkansas branches will be closed.
BancorpSouth says it will close locations in Camden, Chidester, El Dorado, Hope, Humnoke, Humphrey, Moutainberg, Paragould and Texarkana.
Few layoffs are expected in state as the bank looks to downsize branches in predominantly smaller Arkansas towns. Some closures are in communities where BancorpSouth has multiple locations.
Company officials have said the branch plan is a “first step to streamline” operations, suggesting other facility, service and personnel cuts are being planned.
BancorpSouth is a financial holding company with $13.5 billion in assets. The company operates approximately 312 commercial banking, mortgage, insurance, trust and broker/dealer locations in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee and Texas.
Coincidentally, an article posted May 12 at The Street focused on Alma, Arkansas and BancorpSouth in reporting on the decline of small town banks. The report notes that there were 14,891 banks in 1990, with the number falling to 7,431 at the end of 2010.
BancorpSouth shares (NYSE: BXS) were trading higher Tuesday, around $13 a share and up from what has been a low trading range. During the past 52 weeks, the share price has ranged from a $21.24 high to a $12.27 low.
