Signature Bank Makes Its Mark on Harrison

Signature Bank is developing a full-service branch location inside the Durand Center at 303 N. Main St. in Harrison.

Fayetteville’s Signature Bank of Arkansas has made the Harrison market a party of 10. The $805 million-asset lender has opened for business in Suite 100 of the Durand Center at 303 N. Main St.

The bank has expanded its plans for the full-service office from 3,800 SF to 8,200 SF, and demo work is in full swing to create more space with an eye toward future growth.

The entry of Signature Bank marks the sixth change in the lineup of lenders in Harrison’s $932 million-deposit market during the last five years.

The string of alterations began in 2016 with Equity Bank of Andover, Kansas, acquiring Community First Bank of Harrison for $77 million in November and Stone Bank of Mountain View coming to town in December.

Those developments were followed in April 2018 by Arvest Bank of Fayetteville’s $391 million acquisition of Bear State Bank of Little Rock, founded on the bones of First Federal Savings Bank of Harrison. In 2019, two new lenders opened full-service branches in Harrison: CS Bank of Eureka Springs in April and First Community Bank of Batesville in December.

The shake-up in the competitive field has produced a state of flux for deposit market shares. In 2016 when there were seven lenders, the two biggest slices of the then-$882 million-deposit market were held by Bear State at 33% ($291 million) and Community First at 29.8% ($263 million).

Today, the top two are Anstaff Bank of Green Forest at 26.9% ($250 million) and Equity Bank at 25.3% ($236 million).