FDIC: Arkansas banks see income decrease in 2022

According to a recent Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) report, federally insured commercial banks and savings institutions saw net income decline by 5.8% to $263 billion in 2022. The decrease was primarily attributable to higher provision expenses that offset an increase in net interest income.

Net income for 83 FDIC-insured Arkansas banks last year decreased by 8.3% to $1.98 billion from $2.16 billion in 2021.

“The banking industry continues to face significant downside risks from inflation, rising market interest rates, and geopolitical uncertainty that could hurt bank profitability, weaken credit quality and capital, and limit loan and deposit growth,” FDIC Chairman Martin J. Gruenberg said. “These risks will be matters of continued supervisory attention by the FDIC over the coming year.”

Arkansas’ three public banks were the most profitable last year. Little Rock-based Bank OZK had the most profit in 2022 with $564.1 million, followed by Centennial Bank of Conway ($331.3 million) and Simmons Bank of Pine Bluff ($290.2 million).

Collectively, Arkansas banks’ total assets as of Dec. 31 ($158.2 billion) grew 2.5% from the previous quarter ($154.3 billion) and 8.8% from the previous year ($145.4 billion).

Three Arkansas banks ended 2022 with more than $20 billion in assets—Fayetteville-chartered Arvest Bank ($26.7 billion), Bank OZK ($26.5 billion) and Simmons Bank ($24.6 billion).

The new data also showed Arkansas bank deposits grew by $1.4 billion, or 1%, from the third quarter to $130.3 billion.