FNB Tops Deposit List

As of June 30, First National Bank of Fort Smith holds the top spot for the deposit market share in Crawford and Sebastian counties with 22.97 percent, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Deposit market share data was released on Oct. 13. The number is up from a 22.58 percent share a year earlier and represents a total of $615 million in deposits.
Coming in close at No. 2 was BancorpSouth Bank of Tupelo, Miss., with 20.83 percent of the market share (or $558 million in deposits). The next largest share was held by Bentonville-based Arvest Bank-Fort Smith, which posted an 11.29 percent share ($302 million in deposits), or 9.54 percent (and $256 million) less than BancorpSouth.
First National Bank is owned by First Bank Corp. of Fort Smith, which also owns Citizens’ Bank & Trust Co. (No. 4 on the list with a 9.36 percent share), the Bank of Rogers and National Bank of Sallisaw in Okla.
All in all, 15 banks compete for about $2.68 billion in deposits in Crawford and Sebastian counties. The number of unique banks in the market is up from 14 a year earlier.
But one bank, First National Bank at Paris, sold its branch in Barling to Farmers Bank in May. FNBP had opened the branch on June 1, 2005. So the net reflects two banks entering the two-county market: First Western Bank and First Arkansas Valley Bank.
Total deposits in the market grew by 6 percent from $2.52 in 2005, which was up 3 percent from $2.44 billion in 2004.
First National Bank’s deposits were $615 million, up 8 percent from $569 million last year.
The total number of bank offices grew to 86 as of June 30, compared to 82 a year earlier.