BancorpSouth Set to Build

BancorpSouth Inc. of Tupelo, Miss., is expanding its presence in Northwest Arkansas.

The bank, which now has a branch on Sunbridge Drive managed by senior vice president Robin Simpson in Fayetteville, is hoping to have a second location on 52nd Street in Rogers within the MetroPark development by late 2008. The bank does not yet have a contractor and hopes to break ground by the end of the year.

BancorpSouth is one of the dominate banks in terms of deposit market share in the Fort Smith MSA.

The Fayetteville branch began as a loan production office in January 2006 but received regulatory approval to operate as a branch last October.

BancorpSouth also owns property near Willow Creek hospital in Johnson and will open a third branch there sometime after the Rogers office debuts.

BancorpSouth has operations in eight states and has more than 60 branches in  Arkansas, including 10 in the River Valley. It has also merged with The Signature Bank in Missouri, which has operations in Springfield and the St. Louis area.

BancorpSouth is a publicly traded, $13 billion financial holding company that operates about 290 commercial banking, mortgage, insurance, trust and broker-dealer locations.