Regions Bank Produce Profits

First National Bank of Siloam Springs tops the list of Northwest Arkansas banks ranked by return on equity. For the year ended Dec. 31, the bank’s return on equity was 22.34.

“We’re in a good community and have a good customer base,” says Warren Fields, the bank’s president. He credits his bank’s success to location. “We don’t do anything differently than anybody else. Sometimes we think we succeed when we’re just in the right spot.”

First National has had strong return on equity over the past several years, Fields adds. The strong national economy and the rapid growth in Siloam Springs have also added to First National’s strong performance, he says.

The list, however, doesn’t include several financial institutions, some of which have a large presence in Northwest Arkansas. NationsBank, for example, was excluded because its results are reported for the entire bank. Breakouts for the bank’s performance in Northwest Arkansas or even for the state of Arkansas aren’t available.

Also excluded from the list were Community Bank of Fayetteville, Federal Savings Bank of Rogers, First Federal Bank of Arkansas, Superior Federal Bank and United Bank, all of which are chartered as thrifts.

Fort Smith-based Superior Federal was previously owned by Boatmen’s. But, as a result of that company’s sale to NationsBank, Superior Federal has been sold to SFC Acquisition Corp., an investor group that is paying $162.5 million for the thrift. The sale is expected to be completed during the second quarter of 1998. Superior Federal ended the year with tangible assets of nearly $1.2 billion and income of $19.9 million.

Federal Savings Bank of Rogers is being acquired by Farmers and Merchants Bank, a holding of First Commercial Corp., which is also in the process of being acquired by another company: Regions Bank of Birmingham, Ala. FSB reported tangible assets of $461.5 million with income of $5.9 million.

First Federal Bank of Arkansas, based in Harrison, has a growing presence in Northwest Arkansas with branches in Fayetteville, Farmington, Tontitown, Rogers and Bentonville. First Federal ended the year with assets of $549.6 million in tangible assets and income of $4.9 million.

United Bank of Springdale reported tangible assets of $62.6 million for 1997 with income of $1.1 million.

Community Bank of Fayetteville, one of the region’s newest banks, ended the year with $39.5 million in tangible assets and a loss of $128,000.