First Bank Corp. Runs With Banking Big Boys

Two banking properties held by First Bank Corp. of Fort Smith — First National Bank of Fort Smith and Citizens Bank & Trust Co. of Van Buren — were among the 10 most profitable banks in Northwest Arkansas through the first three quarters of 2002.

Third-quarter numbers were recently made public (See chart), although most banks have already tallied 2002 through the fourth quarter.

First National Bank of Fort Smith saw its 2002 net income hop 25 percent from $6.888 million in 2001 to $8.595 million for all of last year. Samuel T. Sicard, the bank’s vice president of lending, said a large commercial loan default and the negative economy in 2001 contributed to its 17 percent income dip from $8.311 million in 2000. But Sicard said even lower interest rates and synergies found in Citizens’ mortgage lending department made last year a good one.

“When we acquired Citizens in 1994, they didn’t have an in-house secondary mortgage operation,” Sicard said. “But we’ve added that and brought a few of their loan officers over here. We’ve had strong fee income growth from that mortgage business.”

The holding company recorded $13.170 million in net income for 2002, an 18 percent increase over $11.127 from 2001. The holding company has $941.5 million in assets, $779.8 million in deposits and $630.4 million in loans.

Last April, First Bank bought the Arkansas and Oklahoma offices of insurance firm Brown-Hiller-Clark & Associates for a multiple of its $4 million in annual billings.

Sicard’s father, Samuel M. Sicard, chairs First Bank and is president of First National.