The first acquisition of an Arkansas bank by a credit union totaled about $11.8 million.
The recent purchase of the $65.2 million-asset HomeBank of Arkansas is the opening foray into the state for Barksdale Federal Credit Union of Bossier City, Louisiana.
The deal encompasses five full-service locations in Little Rock, opened in 2005; Greenbrier, opened in 2001; Marshall, opened in 2002; Damascus, opened in 2003; and Portland (Ashley County).
The change of ownership on two of those properties has hit the public record.
The 6,472-SF branch at 8800 Stagecoach Road in Little Rock registered a $1.3 million transaction, and the 1,740-SF branch in Portland at 113 U.S. 165S sold for $186,000.
Formed in 1954 to provide service to the personnel at its namesake Air Force base, Barksdale Federal is the largest credit union headquartered in Louisiana. Its military-oriented service area was extended to the Army’s Fort Polk in 1971.
Before the HomeBank buy, the $2 billion-asset lender was supported by a staff of 409 and a branch network of 25 locations in northern and central Louisiana along with Longview, Texas. Barksdale entered Texas through the 2020 acquisition of Longview Consolidated Credit Union.
This year’s HomeBank deal was among four credit union acquisitions of a bank announced during a two-week window in late February and early March, and that national tally doubled by June 30.
The high-water mark for credit union bank buys was set in 2019 at 14. The number of such deals in 2021 reached 13 but surpassed 2019’s purchased asset total of $3.9 billion. Total bank assets acquired by credit unions in 2021: nearly $5.9 billion.
Headquartered in Greenbrier, HomeBank was established in August 2001 on the charter of Portland’s Peoples Bank, founded in 1908.
During its HomeBank incarnation, the bank averaged a meager annual profit of $60,000.
During its first 10 years, HomeBank only produced a total profit of about $1.3 million. The bank made a mere $82,000 over the course of its last 11 years of operations.
HomeBank also conducted business under the shadow of two consent orders related to unsafe or unsound banking practices in 2011 and 2019 from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
In that 2019 order, the HomeBank board of directors also consented to charges of violating banking laws and regulations related to weaknesses in management, capital, earnings, asset quality, liquidity and sensitivity to market risk.
Diamond Bank Digs
Murfreesboro’s Diamond Bank soon will break ground on its second full-service branch in Texarkana, Texas. The $760 million-asset lender will set up shop in a new office at 5712 Richmond Road.
Diamond Bank, which opened its first location in Texarkana in July 2017, holds a 0.76% share of deposits ($13.5 million) in the market. That ranks No. 12 in a competitive field of 13 banks.
Diamond is among four Arkansas-based lenders in Texarkana’s nearly $1.8 billion-deposit market.
This year, Magnolia’s Farmers Bank & Trust staked its claim on the largest share of deposits in Texarkana: 17.83%, $315.5 million. Little Rock’s Bank OZK ranks No. 8 at 4.62%, $81.8 million. After opening its first branch in the market 14 months ago, Bodcaw Bank ranks No. 11 at 1.69%, $29.8 million.
