Banker?s Trip No Big Deal

A ferocious fuss was raised over the Arkansas Bankers Association holding a senior management conference out-of-state. The Aug. 3-5 event drew more than 190 members and 110 spouses and guests to Branson, Mo., for a weekend of finance and fairways.

John Cross, president of Bank of Eureka Springs, took issue with the conference going to a city that competes with his own for tourism. Branson is an hour northeast of Eureka Springs, and Cross contended that Arkansas missed out on “millions of dollars” that would have turned over in hotel, shopping and tax revenue.

We say that figure is a little high, unless the bankers rode off from the Dixie Stampede without their wallets. But either way, we see nothing wrong with state associations meeting where they please.

The ABA is already scheduled to hold its junior bankers management seminar in Eureka Springs. We figure Cross is just hot because his city’s convention center burned in February and it’s missing out on potential events.

Gov. Mike Huckabee sparked an amusing twist by criticizing the Branson excursion and asking how the bankers would like it if the state deposited its money out-of-state. ABA President Bob Burns of Magnolia pointed out that Arkansas does deposit billions of dollars across state lines in the form of the state employees’ and teachers’ retirement funds.

The ABA is simply following the lead of other associations that are trying to build participation. The Independent Insurance Agents of Arkansas are going to Branson next year for their annual convention, and the Arkansas Auto Dealers Association routinely holds conferences in places like Destin, Fla.

Bankers associations in other states make far more extravagant trips. Alabama’s went to the Bahamas last year and junkets were also made by the bankers in Georgia (to Hawaii), Oklahoma (to Las Vegas) and Tennessee (to Bermuda).

The Branson trip even prompted an 8 percent spike in attendance, after four-straight years of waning numbers. The reason is people want to attend conferences where they can take their families and turn it into a mini-vacation.

We like Eureka Springs as much as anyone, but how many Jesus-shaped refrigerator magnets and hand-carved dulcimers does one really need?

And let’s not forget that the ABA was patronizing a hotel owned by John Q. Hammonds, who’s Embassy Suites in Little Rock and Holiday Inn and Convention Center in Springdale do their banking in Arkansas.