Farmers Prospers in Texas Market After De Novo

Farmers Bank & Trust's new branch location in Prosper, Texas.

An Arkansas lender sits atop a Texas market with a dominating 40.16% share of deposits. Magnolia’s Farmers Bank & Trust holds more than $147.8 million of the $368 million deposits in Prosper, Texas, a city of nearly 30,000 an hour north of Dallas.

“Our market presence is a credit to Ray Smith,” said Bruce Maloch, COO of the $1.6 billion-asset lender. “A lot of that is through his contacts. He’s our market president and mayor of Prosper, where they have a council-manager form of government.”

After establishing a de novo branch three years ago in Prosper, Farmers moved from leased space in a strip center to its own stand-alone office at 750 N. Preston Road. The new full-service brick-and-mortar operation opened in late November.

Prosper is a microcosm of the $29.9 billion-deposit Collin County market where there is no shortage of bank competition. Based on deposits in the market, Farmers ranks 28th among 62 banks on the ground in Collin County.

The Prosper franchise of Farmers accounts for a 0.49% share of the county’s deposits.

With offices in Frisco, Plano, Allen and McKinney, Little Rock’s Bank OZK is the only other Arkansas-based lender in the market. The $23 billion-asset lender has the 15th-largest market share of deposits in Collin County at 1.05% ($314.7 million).

Farmers entered Texas in 2012 by branching into Texarkana and built on that in 2014 with the $31.8 million acquisition of 1st Bank of Texarkana, Texas.

Back in its foundational Columbia County market in late 2019, Farmers picked up a ground lease on a former Bank OZK branch at 1606 Hollensworth St. in Magnolia. The property, originally a Summit Bank office, increases the Farmers location count in Magnolia to five.

The bank recorded a profit of more than $13.8 million through the first three quarters of 2019, supported by a staff of 252. “We’re about to close out a good year, and the budget looks good for next year,” Maloch said in an interview heading into the Christmas holidays.

Farmers Bank & Trust, Magnolia
Total Assets: $1.6 billion
Net Income: $13.9 million
Staff: 252
(As of Sept. 30, 2019)
Full-Service Locations: Two in Magnolia and Malvern and one each in Hope, Texarkana, Camden, Prescott and Haskell in Arkansas and two in Texarkana and one each in Prosper and New Boston in Texas

Source: Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Dollars in thousands except where noted.