ANB Kicks State?s Average ROA
by February 28, 2005 12:00 am 87 views
ANB Financial N.A., formerly known as Arkansas National Bank, had a Sept. 30 return on average assets of 3.09 percent — a whopping 1.87 percent higher than the state’s average of 1.22 percent.
Dan Dykema, chairman and CEO of ANB, said the third-quarter number was inflated slightly because of the sale of two or three lots adjacent to the bank’s new operations center in Rogers. Otherwise the bank’s ROA would have been about 2.8 percent, he said.
ANB’s total assets as of Sept. 30 were $582.8 million, up from $485.3 a year earlier, a staggering 20 percent increase. Deposits went from $295.4 million in 2003 to $364.3 million in 2004, a 23 percent increase.
Total net charge-offs fell from $912,000 to $450,000 for the third-quarter year-to-year comparison, and the percent of loans charged off fell from 0.31 percent in 2003 to 0.14 percent in 2004.
ANB opened a loan production office in St. George, Utah, last month, Dykema said. The town is in the southwest corner of the state known for its snow-capped mountains and rust-colored slot canyons.
It’s too early to talk about the office’s performance, he said, but the bank picked St. George because of the town’s booming activity, somewhat like Northwest Arkansas. Arizona and Nevada are within a very short drive. Eight people man the office, one of whom came from Northwest Arkansas.
Though officials claim the bank’s recent name change was to reflect its “all things financial” offerings, we wonder if it’s not also indicative of desire to move into other markets while ditching the Arkansas connotation.
Harrison-based trucking company Arkansas Freightways changed its name to American Freightways before selling to FedEx of Memphis in 2001, and Arkansas Best Freight of Fort Smith re-branded itself as ABF Freight Systems, both supposedly to widen their national appeal.