First Security Throws Family-Friendly Party

First Security Bank is in to “niching” some of its various branches.

Late last year the bank opened a Business Banking Center in Springdale to service commercial customers, and on May 26 the bank dubbed its branch at Mission and Crossover in Fayetteville as the Family Banking Center.

One office of the branch, which used to house a conference table, has been converted into a children’s play area called Penny Pockets’ Playroom. Penny the kangaroo is the bank’s “appeal to children” mascot.

FSB kicked off the branch’s new “title” with a circus-themed party that included a clown, kid-friendly games and a cookout.

Annette Walls, associate vice president of marketing for FSB, said the branch is located in a high-density neighborhood area and is therefore perfectly suited to be the Family Banking Center.

More than 2,800 flyers were sent to residents in the surrounding neighborhoods to encourage traffic to the party, she said.

There are six different banks, a Bank of the Ozarks in development and two different ATMs in close proximity to the intersection of Crossover and Mission. They represent a total of eight institutions competing for about $95.6 million in deposits.

The FSB branch had about $9.5 million in deposits — close to 10 percent of the market — as of June 30, 2004. The Arvest Bank across the street had more than any other institute with $44 million.

FSB, the subsidiary bank of First Security Bancorp. based in Searcy, had $1.18 billion in assets and $1.07 billion in deposits as of March 31, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.