More Arvest Branches Merge

Formal approval for the latest cluster of Arvest Bank Group Inc. institutions to merge into Arvest Bank of Fayetteville was given Jan. 3 by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

It’s the last federal formality for a series of expected mergers as the Bentonville banking chain consolidates its 14 different bank properties and more than 130 branches into one shell. The former Arvest McIlroy Bank & Trust Co.’s 1871 charter, the oldest in Arkansas, will eventually house the entire $4 billion (deposits) operation.

Arvest is also set to appear before the Arkansas State Banking Commission on Jan. 24 to seek final approval for its 10 remaining banks that have yet to be converted.

Gary Head, president of Arvest in Fayetteville, said the entire process will be concluded by June.

Arvest Central Bank & Trust in Little Rock on Oct. 18 became the first institution merged to the new charter. Arvest Springdale Bank & Trust and Arvest Farmers & Merchants Bank of Prairie Grove quickly followed suit.

A couple of whoppers were among the five mergers recently OK’ed by the feds. Arvest Bank of Bentonville and Arvest State Bank in Tulsa, Okla., boast deposits of $617 million and $516 million, respectively. They represent a combined $1.13 billion or about 28 percent of Arvest’s total deposits.

Also receiving federal approval this month were First Arvest Bank in Siloam Springs and the Arvest Banks in Fort Smith and Joplin, Mo.

Arvest, chaired by Jim Walton, is the largest locally based banking operation in Northwest Arkansas with about $4.7 billion in total assets. Eventually, all of Arvest’s institutions will operate simply as “Arvest Bank.”

McIlroy Bank & Trust Co. was a $100 million bank when it was bought by Walton’s group in 1986. It’s now a $500 million bank. William H. McIlroy, a retailer and banker who lived from 1812-1886, was McIlroy’s first CEO on the downtown Fayetteville square.