Bank deposits in Northwest Arkansas increase more than $1 billion since 2014

Consumers in Northwest Arkansas have socked away $597 million more in local bank deposits in 2016 than in 2015, with deposits up almost 13% since 2014.

Deposits in the metro stood at $9.65 billion as of June 30, according to the Federal Deposit Market Share report from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. The deposits rose 6.59% year-over-year. This comes on the heels of a 5.85% increase in deposits in the prior year. Over the past two years consumer deposits in Northwest Arkansas have grown by $1.098 billion or 12.83%.

Following are the previous three years of Northwest Arkansas deposit tallies as reported by the FDIC.
June 30, 2016: $9.65 billion
June 30, 2015: $9.053 billion
June 30, 2014: $8.552 billion

Arvest Bank holds 46.99% of the deposits in Northwest Arkansas as of June 30, according to the FDIC report released Sept. 30. The bank keeps a commanding share of the deposits across the region despite three more banks opening branches in 2016.

Arvest had local consumer deposits of $4.535 billion as June 30. Arvest gave up 1.3% of its market share from the prior year to other banks, but added to its deposit total in the process. Over the past year Arvest’s bank deposits grew $163 million, or 3.73%. Since 2014 Arvest Bank’s local deposits grew by $462 million, or 11.34%.

Craig Rivaldo, president of Arvest Benton County, told Talk Business & Politics the bank has seen tremendous growth in deposits for past several years. He said this “basically indicates the market confidence in Arvest Bank.” Rivaldo said banks in the region have high liquidity levels and are eager to better utilize those assets by lending them out and that has created a competitive lending climate in the region.

Tim Yeager, Arkansas Bankers Chair at the University of Arkansas, said banks with the highest level of core deposits will likely have a competitive advantage pricing loans when interest rates do begin to rise.

Searcy-based First Security Bank held tight to its No. 2 spot with 7.48% of the local consumer deposits as of June 30. The deposits totaled $722.19 million, growing by more than $40.7 million from a year ago.  First Security also gave up a little market share from the 7.53% it had a year ago. But over the past two years the bank has grown deposits in Benton and Washington counties by 11.88%, adding $76.728 million dollars to its deposit holdings since June 2014.

Sitting firmly in the third spot, Bank of America – the largest bank in the nation – held $402.792 million in local deposits as of June 30. That gave the bank a 4.17% market share, picking up a little share since 2015. A year ago the bank had 3.98% of deposits valued at $359.939 million. The bank grew its local deposits by 11.9% over the past year. Since 2014, Bank of America has grown its deposits by $81 million or 25.28%.

The Bank of Arkansas, owned by the Bank of Oklahoma, holds the No. 4 spot in deposit markets share for Benton and Washington counties. Bank of Arkansas reported local deposits of $328.346 million as of June 30 for a 3.4% market share, which was about $4 million less than the June 2015 deposits of $332.362 million. The Bank of Arkansas has two branches located in Fayetteville and Bentonville. Roughly 73% of the bank’s deposits are in the Fayetteville branch.

Farmers & Merchants Bank held No. 5 spot for deposit market share after acquiring the Bank of Fayetteville in 2015. Farmers & Merchants held local despots of $320.75 million as of June 30 for 3.32% of the market share. The bank grew deposits by $6.56 million from a year ago, but gave up a little market share in the process. A year ago the bank’s market share was 3.47% and deposits were $314.185 million.

Springdale-based Legacy National Bank unseated Signature Bank for the No. 6 spot this year. Legacy reports deposit market share of 3.22%, up from 3.12% a year ago. Bank deposits totaled $310.342 million, a gain of 9.9% from June 2015. Over the past two years the bank has grown deposits by $79.58 million, or 34.48%. The bank has also moved up two spots in the deposits share rankings since 2014.

“Deposit growth comes with population growth, and profit growth from a healthy economy and full employment. I do believe that saving is up for both consumers and businesses that are retaining earnings for future growth and investment,” said Legacy National CEO Don Gibson.

Signature Bank fell to the No. 7 spot for overall deposit market share this year. As of June 30 the bank held deposits of $302.89 million for 3.14% of the overall market share. Deposits grew from $298.131 million a year ago, a gain of $4.759 million or 1.59%. Since 2014 the bank’s deposits are up 1.18%, but the bank has dropped three spots in the rankings from No. 4.

Regions Bank moved into the No. 8 spot with local deposits of $242.296 million or 2.51% of the local market share. Regions pushed ahead of Bank of the Ozarks, Chambers Bank, Simmons First National, Iberiabank and Centennial Bank this year. Deposits at Regions are up $98.296 million from the June 2015 report. The 68.25% increase in year-over-year deposits was among the highest among any of the 41 banks doing business in the region. Since 2014, Regions has grown it local deposits by 88.8%.

Pine Bluff-based Simmons First National Bank had local deposits of $231.337 million on June 30, or 2.4% of the local market share. A year-ago Simmons held 2.61% of the deposit market share. Deposits at Simmons are down from $236.428 million the bank reported in 2015. The bank also slid two spots from last year to the No. 9 market share position as of June. Simmons purchased Metropolitan National Bank in 2013 which raised its deposit share in 2014 to 2.85%.

Bank of the Ozarks rounded out the top 10 with deposits of $226.511 million as of June 30. The bank held 2.35% of the local deposit market share, growing from 1.77% a year ago. The bank added more than $65.87 million in local deposits over the past year, an annual increase of 41%. Bank of the Ozarks has 12 branch locations in Benton and Washington counties. Roughly 70% of the local deposits are in Benton County, with the majority $57 million, being in its two Bella Vista branches. The largest branch on Walton Boulevard in Bentonville had deposits of $35.309 million.

BEST OF THE REST
No. 11: Iberiabank,  $221.337 million, up  2.31%
No. 12: Centennial Bank, $203.594 million, up 9.87%
No. 13: Chambers Bank, $144.769 million, down 10%
No. 14: Generations Bank, $133.952 million, up 11.27%
No. 15: First Western Bank, $133.329 million, up 6.53%

LOWEST MARKETSHARE (0.05% or less)
No. 37: Hometown Bank,  $5.062 million, up 19%
No. 38: Integrity First Bank,  $4.889 million, up 85%
No. 39: Armstrong Bank, $2.76 million
No. 40: InTrust Bank, $1.419 million, 3.78%
No. 41: First Clover Leaf Bank of Illinois, $928,000

There were three banks that began holding deposits in the Northwest Arkansas metro area in 2016: Armstrong Bank of Muskogee, Okla., Cornerstone Bank of Eureka Springs, and First Clover Leaf Bank of Edwardsville, Illinois.