First National Bank Fully Up and Running in NWA

Paragould-based lender First National Bank entered the Northwest Arkansas market in the fall of 2014 when it purchased five empty bank branches.

A year later, all five are now open for business.

In late October, FNB re-opened the last of the branches, a 3,329-SF building at 4000 Greathouse Springs Road in Johnson, just off Interstate 49.

The bank has also recently hired Dean Redford to lead business development efforts in the Northwest Arkansas market. Redford spent the last seven years in a similar capacity for Centennial Bank.

The bank’s holding company, First Paragould Bankshares Inc., closed Oct. 1, 2014, on a $12.2 million purchase of five empty bank branches in Benton and Washington counties that previously belonged to Pine Bluff-based Simmons First National Bank.

Within four months, FNB opened the doors at two of those locations — a 22,854-SF branch at 3701 Pinnacle Hills Parkway in Rogers, and a 3,552-SF branch at 300 S.E. Walton Blvd. in Bentonville.

A third location, a 4,447-SF building at 2691 E. Mission Blvd. in Fayetteville, opened in June, and the fourth office, a 3,502-SF location at 1950 S. Pleasant St. in Springdale, opened in August.

In terms of assets, FNB is nearing the $1 billion threshold. According to the most recent data available from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., as of June 30, the bank had $981.2 million in total assets, a jump of nearly 22 percent from the same date in 2014.