Courier Competition

Three months after First National Bank of Springdale got approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to start a courier service for commercial deposits another local bank has applied to start a “virtual branch.”

Bank of Arkansas N.A., a BOK Financial Corp. subsidiary based in Fayetteville, made its application to the Comptroller on March 28.

Bank laws require formal approval for banks to operate a deposit courier operation because it extends the bank’s market reach in the same manner that a new branch would. The move makes sense for Bank of Arkansas, a primarily commercial $191 million bank with two locations in Fayetteville and one in Rogers. The service comes with a nominal fee, but it addresses security issues and keeps companies from tying up an employee in traffic.

Jeff Dunn, Bank of Arkansas’ president and CEO, said the concept should help attract new business. The bank already has 15 deposit pick-up customers that it serves through a third-party courier.