Arvest Bank Acquires 29 Bank of America Locations (UPDATED)

Northwest Arkansas

by Paul Gatling ([email protected]) December 13, 2012 1:22 pm 1,187 views 

Arvest Bank of Fayetteville announced today the purchase of 29 Bank of America locations in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma, all of them close to or within existing Arvest markets.

Arvest said the purchase is subject to regulatory approval, expected in the first quarter of 2013.

Arvest will buy 18 branch locations owned by Bank of America, as well as lease obligations for 11 other branch locations.

Other assets in the transaction include most deposit accounts such as checking, savings, IRAs and CDs belonging to households and small businesses in the local area.

The transaction does not include credit card, mortgage, brokerage or trust accounts.

Arvest said it expects many Bank of America employees to transition to the company and keep their current positions.

Nine of the Bank of America locations are in Arkansas, found in Hot Springs (4), Russellville (2), Harrison, Hot Springs Village and Mountain Home.

Fifteen other locations are in Missouri: Aurora, Branson (2) Carthage, Cassville, Forsyth, Joplin, Lebanon, Lockwood, Monett, Mountain Grove, Neosho, Nevada, Shell Knob and West Plains.

Four locations are in Oklahoma — two each in Muskogee and Tahlequah — plus a Kansas branch in Pittsburg.

The transaction will enter Arvest into 12 new communities. Each of the new locations will be assigned to an existing nearby community market once regulatory approval is finalized.

Arvest Bank is the state’s largest bank in terms of branches (110) and deposits ($6.45 billion) as of June 30.

The deposits represent control of 12 percent of the statewide total, representing a year-over-year gain of $867.3 million, or 15.5 percent.

As of Sept. 30, Arvest had total assets of $13.82 billion and $11.57 billion in deposits. Approval of the transaction will give the bank 272 branches in 90 communities throughout those four states.

Bank of America, based in Charlotte, N.C., has 38 bank branches in Arkansas and statewide deposits totaling $3.13 billion as of June 30.