Pinnacle Bank Opens, Names First Board

Pinnacle Bank President Joe Mills said its temporary headquarters in Rogers opened on Aug. 23 to allow the bank’s 145 private investors to come in and open accounts. It opened for the public Aug. 30.

State-chartered Pinnacle Bank received its final regulatory approval from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on Aug. 16.

Investors supplied $15 million in capital this summer, Mills said.

Pinnacle has eight employees so far. The planned Pinnacle Bank Building at Creekside Place, east of the planned St. Mary’s Hospital off Interstate 540 in Rogers, is about 20 months out, Mills said.

Pinnacle’s board of directors include: Bruce Loftin, president of First State Bank of Lonoke, Bruce Vernetti, Chuck Sharp, David Estes, Hugh McClain, Joe Mills, Kevin Beasely, Mac McClanahan, Phillip Young, Rick Barclay, Ron Montgomery and Tom Garrison.

First State Bank has $216 million in assets and operates five offices with one in Fayetteville. Loftin said Lonoke Bancshares Inc. of Lonoke, which operates First State Bank, has an equity share in Pinnacle. Mills said the relationship between the two will help Pinnacle’s loan offerings.

As of June 30, 2003, the most recent numbers available from the FDIC, there were 21 institutions competing for $4.7 billion in deposits in the Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers metropolitan statistical area. That’s up from 19 at the end of 2003.