First Security Bank Reports Net Income of $87.7 Million in 2011

Here are some more numbers worth sharing:

First Security Bank of Searcy ended 2011 with net income of almost $87.7 million against assets that crossed the $4 billion mark as of Dec. 31.

That trails, of course, the $103.5 million in net income that Bank of the Ozarks (the bank, not its publicly traded holding company) reported for the full year.

But unlike Bank of the Ozarks, First Security didn’t enjoy a $36 million after-tax gain on some big acquisitions assisted by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. that bumped BOZ’s assets to $3.83 billion at the end of the year. (Bank of the Ozarks also crossed the $4 billion mark briefly during 2011, but acquiring failing banks makes for volatile balance sheets.)

And what of Arkansas’ other big banks?

• Arvest Bank of Fayetteville, the biggest with $12.52 billion in assets, recorded net income of $81.7 million;
• Centennial Bank, owned by publicly traded Home BancShares Inc. of Conway, had net income of $57.8 million on assets of $3.59 billion; and
• Liberty Bank of Arkansas, based in Jonesboro, reported net income of $18.8 million on assets of $2.81 billion.