Grand Savings Bank will open first Washington County branch in downtown Fayetteville

Oklahoma-chartered Grand Savings Bank will expand its footprint in Northwest Arkansas with a full-service branch in downtown Fayetteville.

The company announced Thursday (Sept. 6) it will open a new location at 15 S. Block Ave. (Suite102) on the west side of the downtown square. The leased office space will open at a date to be determined this fall.

“Fayetteville has been on our radar for a long time,” Grand Savings Bank CEO Guy Cable said. “GSB’s entire team and board of directors are thrilled to add this branch to our footprint, and we look forward to serving customers in Washington County. We feel that we have an experienced and dynamic team in place and can’t wait to add value to Fayetteville.”

Earlier this year, Grand Savings Bank hired longtime Fayetteville lender Bob King, previously the top executive at The Bank of Fayetteville, to lead the lender’s entry into the Fayetteville market. Holly Wheeler and Emily Bogner, both previously with First National Bank of NWA, have also been hired to work in Grand Saving Bank’s downtown office. The company says additional employees and a grand opening date will be announced at a later date.

Grand Savings Bank was chartered in 1981 and was sold to a group of investors, most of them from Northwest Arkansas, in April 2013. Its leadership team is led by chairman Tony Steele, vice chairman Tyler Steele, his son, and Cable.

The bank had just two branches when it was acquired, one each in the Delaware County towns of Grove and Jay, just across the Arkansas border. Aided by the acquisition of Decatur State Bank in late 2014, Grand Savings Bank now has eight Arkansas branches. It has Benton County offices in Bentonville, Rogers (2), Gentry, Gravette, Decatur and Siloam Springs, and another in Fort Smith in Sebastian County. The company has also established a third Oklahoma branch, in Fairland.

Grand Savings Bank held $464.8 million in assets as of June 31, according to the FDIC. That’s nearly double the amount since the new ownership took over. The bank finished 2017 with net income of $6.04 million, compared to $1.6 million in 2013.