Arvest Announces Record Assets

We wondered how some of the larger lenders in Northwest Arkansas stacked up in terms of loan growth during 2008.

Arvest Bank, the largest state-chartered bank by 2008 assets, grew its loan portfolio in one of the worst recessionary years in three decades. According to call reports filed with the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council, Arvest closed 2007 with $7.7 billion in total loans and leases, net of unearned income, up 12.7 percent from 2007.

Bank of the Ozarks, the second largest bank in terms of 2008 assets, grew its loan portfolio by 8 percent, closing 2008 with $2.01 billion on its books.

Little Rock’s Metropolitan National Bank, which came in at No. 5 on the statewide list in assets last year but has a significant presence in Benton and Washington counties, saw a decrease in it’s loan portfolio, dropping to $1.12 billion from $1.27 billion at the end of 2007, an 11 percent decrease.