BancorpSouth Eyes NWA

After last year’s tidal wave of announcements about new banks (Pinnacle Bank, Legacy National Bank and Signature Bank of Arkansas), the charter relocation of Parkway Bank, and this year’s series of announcements of new-to-the-market banks (Bank of the Ozarks and Metropolitan National Bank), BancorpSouth Bank’s planned move to Benton and Washington counties may have dropped from most people’s radar screen.

The bank based out of Tupelo, Miss., is publicly traded, so officers are leery of giving the Business Journal’s Whispers staff the word out of the boardroom. But Jim Patridge, president of the bank’s Fort Smith market has said an official announcement is near.

We expect to hear how many banks and the locations sometime in late October, but we doubt it will reach the frenzy of anything like 12 or so offices like some entering the market.

The Fountain Plaza area in Rogers is a likely spot for one office.

BancorpSouth is No. 3 in deposit market share for the six-county area with almost 6.5 percent. New market share data will be out later this month.