Arkansas? Return Third in Region

In the third quarter of 2010, Arkansas banks collectively had a return on their average assets of 0.86 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 up 0.23 points from the second 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, First Western Bank of Booneville had a 0.54 percent ROA; Greenwood-based Citizens’ Bank & Trust Co. of Van Buren had a 1.33 percent ROA; banking thrift Iberiabank FSB of Little Rock had a 0.36 percent ROA; and Harrison-based Community First Bank had a 0.52 percent ROA.

The collective return on average assets for the district was 0.56 percent, and the U.S. average was 0.52 percent.

In a November 23 press release, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said more than 63 percent of all banks in the country reported improvement in their quarterly net income and that profit at all banks was $14.5 billion for the quarter, up from $2 billion a year prior.