Top ROA Performer To Open Bank Office

Ozark-based thrift Priority Bank announced that it will soon open a Mission Boulevard location as a full-service banking office. The office should be ready to take deposits by the end of November. The bank has only one other office, which is in Ozark.

Priority will be the 26th unique banking institution taking deposits in Benton and Washington counties.

Priority Bank has been rated as the top performer in terms of return on assets by Arkansas Business for the last two years, posting a subchapter “S” corporation adjusted 2.5 percent ROA for year-end Dec. 31.

AB also ranked Priority as No. 1 statewide in return on equity. Adjusted for equivalency by Bauer Financial, Priority Bank had an eye-popping return of 50.21 percent — nearly twice the adjusted ROE of No. 2 Riverside Bank of Sparkman for 2004.

In May, John Harrell, president of Priority, told the Business Journal the bank had purchased a location at Wagon Wheel Road and U.S. Highway 71 in Springdale and was in negotiations for a third site in Fayetteville.

The bank had assets of $36.1 million as of June 30, up 2.8 percent from $35.1 million a year before.

Priority is owned by Trevor Lavy, who is related to Don Pitts, primary owner of the Springdale thrift United Bank. University of Arkansas Athletic Director Frank Broyles is a Priority Bank board member.