Industry Report – On Arvest Restructuring

First Arvest Bank of Siloam Springs expects to close its purchase of two Oklahoma branches of Arvest Bank in Joplin, Mo., by mid-October. The realignment of the Arvest Bank Group Inc. interests is designed to put the Westville, Okla., and Stilwell, Okla., branches in a better position for day-to-day management.

rWestville is only 15 miles from Siloam Springs and Stilwell is only 10 miles, whereas Joplin is considerably farther away. The combined assets of the two branches are about $20 million.

rThe sale means First Arvest of Siloam Springs has shown a 27 percent leap in assets, from $205 million to start the year to $260 million as of October.

r”Management felt it was in the best interest of Arvest Bank Group to have supervision of these facilities done on a more local basis,” said Doug Doll, president of the Joplin bank.

r”It will be much more efficient for those branches to be managed from Siloam Springs than Joplin.”

rThe Joplin Bank previously had assets of $155 million.

rIn August, First Arvest merged with Delaware County Bank in Jay, Okla., and acquired branch locations in Jay and Kansas, Okla.

rThose two branches operate as autonomous branches of First Arvest. Delaware County had assets of about $30 million. The Westville and Stilwell branches will now operate under First Arvest of Siloam Springs’ charter.