Arkansas banks top ROA ranking in Eighth District

In the first quarter of 2017, the average return on assets (ROA) for Arkansas banks was 1.35%, ranking the state’s lenders as the top performers among the seven states that make up the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank’s Eighth District.

The percentage represents an increase of 0.05% in the state’s collective ROA from the first quarter of 2016.

ROA, as defined by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., is “net income after taxes and extraordinary items [annualized] as a percent of average assets.” Banks generally consider their annual ROA percentage a top indicator of their health and profitability.

Arkansas banks are ahead of the Eighth District average of 1.14% and the national average of 1.02%.

For the same quarter, Fayetteville-chartered Arvest Bank had an ROA of 0.76%, First Security Bank of Searcy had an ROA of 1.80% and Springdale-based United Bank had an ROA of 0.73%.

In the category of return on average equity, or ROE, Arkansas banks rank second at 10.46% in the first quarter of 2017. That represents an increase of 0.06% from the first quarter of 2016.

Kentucky is the top-performing bank state in the Eighth District in this category with an ROE Of 11.02%.

ROE, as defined by the FDIC, is “annualized net income as a percent of average equity on a consolidated basis.”

The Eighth District ROE average in the first quarter of 2017 was 10.10%.

Among Arkansas banks, The Citizens Bank of Batesville had an ROE of 7.88%, Little Rock-based Bank of the Ozarks had an ROE of 11.96%, and Conway-based Centennial Bank had an ROE of 14.10%.