Arkansas? Return Third Highest in Region

In the fourth quarter of 2009, Arkansas banks collectively had a return on their average assets of 0.58 percent, ranking as No. 3 of the seven states in the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank’s Eighth District. The district includes all of Arkansas and parts of six other states.

Arkansas’ ROA was down 0.27 points from the fourth quarter a year earlier.

Many banks measure success and performance by their annual ROA percentage. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. defines ROA as “net income after taxes and extraordinary items [annualized] as a percent of average total assets.”

For the same quarter, Fayetteville-chartered Arvest Bank had a 0.44 percent ROA; Jonesboro-based Liberty Bank of Arkansas had a 0.51 percent ROA; First Security Bank of Searcy had a 1.41 percent ROA; and Little Rock’s Bank of the Ozarks had a 1.50 percent ROA.

The collective return on average assets for the district was 0.05 percent, and the U.S. average was 0.07 percent.