Arvest Banks Raked Profits in 2001?s 3Q

Four of the five Northwest Arkansas banks that showed the best profits in 2001’s third quarter were properties of Arvest Bank Group Inc. in Bentonville. The bulk compilation of the banks’ income statistics taken from individual Arkansas State Bank & Thrift Report data was recently made available by Bauer Financial Inc., a research firm in Coral Gables, Fla.

Arvest Bank Group, which does business under 14 different names, is consolidating all of its operations into one Fayetteville-based charter. Its properties are in various stages of conversion, but all of them soon will do business as “Arvest Bank.” For simplicity’s sake, going forward, the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal will refer to them all as “Arvest Bank” and distinguish the operations by city (See chart on pg. 10).

The best performer from 2001’s second quarter to its third was Arvest Bank in Bentonville. It made $2.08 million, a 13.33 percent dip from the $2.4 million it made in the second quarter. Of Arvest’s top performers, Arvest Bank in Springdale showed the best gain at 6.6 percent, from $1.06 million in the 2Q to $1.13 million in the 3Q.