Fayetteville, Ark.-based Arvest Bank is increasing its footprint in the Ozarks with an agreement to acquire 29 Bank of America branches, including 15 in Missouri.
The deal, announced by Arvest on Dec. 13, is part of Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America Corp.’s (NYSE: BAC) plan to cut $5 billion in expenses by 2014 and sell 750 branches.
The move would likely triple Arvest’s Springfield-market deposits to around $215 million and grow its market branch tally to 14 from eight. Rodney Shepard, president of Arvest Bank in Springfield, the transaction is expected to close in the first quarter, Pending regulatory approvals.
“It gives us an opportunity to go into some communities that we haven’t been in and provide some additional convenience for communities that we are already in,” Shepard said.
In Missouri, Arvest will take over banking centers in Aurora, Branson, Branson West, Carthage, Cassville, Forsyth, Joplin, Lebanon, Lockwood, Monett, Mountain Grove, Neosho, Nevada, Shell Knob and West Plains representing more than $350 million in deposits, according to Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. reports. In the Springfield market, Shepard said the deal gives privately owned Arvest a third Branson branch and entry into Aurora, Branson West, Forsyth, Lebanon and Mountain Grove.
The total deal comprises branches in Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas and Oklahoma and represents $750 million in deposits, Shepard confirmed, noting Bank of America owns 18 of the branches and Arvest would pick up the leases of 11 locations.
Arvest and Bank of America spokespersons declined to disclose financial terms of the acquisition. Arvest is purchasing most deposit accounts such as checking, savings, IRAs and CDs, but no Bank of America credit card, mortgage and brokerage or trust accounts, according to
Arvest.com.
According to the FDIC, Bank of America’s six locations entering Arvest’s Springfield market held deposits of $147.9 million, as of June 30. At seven branches in its Springfield market, comprising Greene, Christian and Taney counties, Arvest reported $67.1 million in deposits through the second quarter.
Bank of America is reducing its Missouri banking centers to 102 from 117, according to bank spokeswoman Diane Wagner.
“This is the right decision for the community, our employees and our customers,” Wagner said in an email statement. “As a result of this deal, the community will continue to have access to its banking center, more employees will keep their jobs, and customers will have the ability to keep banking at the same branch that is most convenient for them.”
Shepard said Arvest doesn’t plan to eliminate positions at the banking centers.
“We are going to be making plans not only to train the new team, but to determine what our marketing strategies are and what the needs are in those communities in terms of financial services. So when day one comes, we’ll be ready to hit the ground running,” Shepard said, adding the day the transaction closes, Arvest signage would be put in place and internal systems would be converted.
“Today, we are still competitors. So, to the extent that it can be, it is business as usual at both organizations,” Shepard said. “Up until the deal closes, we won’t have a lot of interaction with the Bank of America team, although we are eager to do that.”
According to the FDIC’s most recent deposit market share report, Arvest Bank held $39.2 million across five branches in the five-county Springfield metropolitan statistical area as of June 30, ranking it No. 30 in terms of deposits in Greene, Christian, Dallas, Polk and Webster counties.
Companywide, Arvest held more than $11.5 billion in deposits through the second quarter.
Bank of America claimed the MSA’s sixth spot with $327.4 million in deposits, a 4.12 percent share, according to the FDIC. The publicly traded company recorded $6.2 billion in net income in the third quarter, a 185 percent increase compared to a net loss of $7.3 billion in the same quarter last year.
Arvest, which operates more than 240 branches in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Kansas, is led by CEO and Chairman Jim Walton, the youngest son of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. founder Sam Walton, though the bank is not corporately affiliated with Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart. The Associated Press reported in 2007 the retailer had tried four times since 1999 to start a bank, but its efforts have been rebuffed by regulators.[[In-content Ad]]
