Bank Name Causes Double Take

by Talk Business & Politics ([email protected]) 97 views 

On a recent trip to the Tulsa area, we noticed a bank that had a familiar ring to its name — The Arkansas Valley State Bank.

We wondered if it was somehow related to First Arkansas Valley Bank of Russellville, which is operated by Russellville Bancshares.

Russellville Bancshares bought Arkansas State Bancshares of Siloam Springs along with Liberty Bancshares of Jonesboro back in 2004. So we wondered if there had been a leap westward by the groups.

But we checked with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and found that it was not related. The Arkansas Valley State Bank is chartered in Broken Arrow, Okla., a suburb of Tulsa.

AVSB has four offices and assets of $289.7 million and deposits of $251.4 million as of Sept. 30.

Arvest Bank of Bentonville and First Community Bank, a Jonesboro thrift, are the only two Arkansas-based banks in the Tulsa market.