Banks Share $2.47B River Valley Market

Of the 13 private and public banking institutions operating in Crawford and Sebastian counties, 76 percent of the deposit market share is held by five banks.

The remaining eight institutions share 24 percent of the market, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. in June of 2003. The most recent numbers aren’t due out until fall.

Two of the top five Arkansas River Valley banks are locally chartered — First National Bank of Fort Smith and Citizens’ Bank & Trust Co. of Van Buren, both operated by First Bank Corp. of Fort Smith. Together they hold $741 million of the $2.47 billion in River Valley deposits, or a combined 30 percent of the market.

The remaining three institutions have 46 percent of the market’s deposits. Arvest Bank is operated out of Bentonville, but the other two are out-of-state banks. Regions Bank and BancorpSouth Bank control a combined 31 percent of the two-county market.

Sam T. Sicard, vice president of First National Bank of Fort Smith, said his bank’s focus has always been on the commercial, small-business segment, but in recent years it has begun to augment that with more retail consumer business.

The Fort Smith market is not growing very fast, he said, so in addition to working on the retail segment, the bank has followed some of its customers with loan investments into LeFlore and Sequoyah counties in Oklahoma and in the northwest corner of Arkansas.

Eighty percent of FNB’s Northwest Arkansas investments are in Benton County, he said.

Jim Fincher, CEO of First Community Bank of Crawford County, said his four-year-old bank focuses on its niche. Community has only 1.28 percent of the two-county market share.

“The larger banks have excellent products,” Fincher said. “Sometimes they don’t have the flexibility to waive a fee.”

Fincher attributed the 52 percent increase in deposits from 2002-2003 to attractive rates and a community-focused approach to banking.