Deposits up nearly 14% in Northwest Arkansas, Fort Smith banks

According to the latest summary of deposits data released by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) in September, insured bank deposits in Northwest Arkansas and the Fort Smith metro continue to grow dramatically.

Forty banks operating 300 branches in the six-county Northwest Arkansas region held $21.3 billion in deposits as of June 30 this year. That’s up nearly 14% from $18.7 billion on the same date in 2020 and up 37% from $15.5 billion at the same time in 2019. Banks in the region had $14.8 billion on deposit in 2018.

The six counties included are Benton, Carroll, Crawford, Madison, Sebastian and Washington counties. For a countywide breakdown for Benton, Carroll, Crawford, Madison and Sebastian counties, click here for a PDF. For a breakdown of Washington County banks, click here for a PDF.

The summary of deposits data is recorded by the FDIC at the close of business on June 30 each year and serves as a snapshot for financial data. It only counts FDIC-insured accounts.

Deposit summaries also show where the money in the account is domiciled. However, it may not reflect the account holder’s location. For instance, many customers move their residence, but they don’t change the location of their bank account. The account may reflect a different city or state from where the customer resides.

Of the 10 banks with the most market share in Northwest Arkansas, only two (Bank of America; 3.89% and BancorpSouth Bank; 3.20%) are headquartered outside the state.

Fayetteville-chartered Arvest Bank, owned by the Walton family members, continues to have the largest regional market share of deposits at 38.6%, up slightly from 37.8% on June 30, 2020. The bank’s deposits grew 16% from $7.09 billion last year to $8.23 billion this year.

The First National Bank of Fort Smith is No. 2 in deposits with $1.36 billion (6.39% market share) in its 17 Northwest Arkansas bank locations. Those totals include the bank’s local division, First National Bank of NWA, which has six branches in Benton and Washington counties: Rogers (2), Bentonville, Centerton, Lowell and Fayetteville.

Searcy-chartered First Security Bank is No. 3 in terms of market share. The company grew deposits by almost 32% in the past year to $1.33 billion (6.25% market share).

From a statewide perspective, Arvest Bank has a state-leading market share of 14.7% with $13.32 billion in deposits. Bank of America N.A. (8.72%; $7.90 billion) and Bank OZK (8.20%; $7.42 billion) are second and third, respectively.

Arkansas had 113 banks holding $90.61 billion in bank deposits as of June 30, up from $82.69 billion the year earlier. Pulaski County had $24.14 billion on deposit, accounting for 26.6% of all deposits in Arkansas.

The next largest Arkansas counties by deposits are Benton ($8.07 billion), Washington ($7.34 billion) and Sebastian ($3.7 billion).

There are more deposits in New York than in any other state, with $2.5 trillion. That’s followed by California with $2.1 trillion, Texas with $1.6 trillion, Florida with $808 billion and Illinois with $661 billion.