First State Bank

A California real estate investment group paid $4.25 million for a hotel on North College Avenue in Fayetteville. read more >

Central Bancshares Inc., the new holding company, will become the owner of the $674 million-asset lender. read more >

Trinitas Ventures, a real estate development company in Lafayette, Indiana, bought the 2-acre site in downtown Fayetteville. read more >

Todd Smith of Commercial Bank & Trust in Monticello looks at banks’ return on equity as just one gauge of how well an institution is doing. read more >

June 21 was a big day for First State Bank of Warren and Commercial Bank & Trust of Monticello, but it won’t mean big changes. read more >

The pending merger of Monticello’s Commercial Bank & Trust and Warren’s First State Bank will create a financial institution that will rank No. 41 among Arkansas-based banks based on total assets. read more >

Turner first began working for First Trust Bank in 2003 as a part-time teller. read more >

The elder Blanchard has led the bank since 1999. He'll move to a role as vice chair. read more >

Banking and real estate proved to be popular venues for in-state offerings. read more >

Signature Bank of Arkansas will take over the former Bank of Rogers building, which first opened in 1906, to open a bilingual-staffed banking office. read more >

The Arkansas Support Network, a nonprofit organization that works with people with developmental disabilities, sold two properties for $2.7 million. read more >

Capital Bancorp Inc. of Delhi, Louisiana, recently announced that it will acquire Evergreen Bancshares Inc. of Tallahassee, Florida, and its subsidiary, First State Bank of Crossett. read more >

Two Arkansas banks generated Texas Ratios above 100 at year-end 2014. Twelve months later, the number grew to three, with Heartland Bank of Bryant (112.28) joining Pinnacle Bank of Rogers (139.3) and Allied Bank of Mulberry (183). read more >

Simmons First National Corp. covered some serious ground among growth-minded Arkansas lenders on the acquisition trail. Tandem out-of-state, stock-swap purchases during the first quarter increased the size of the Pine Bluff bank holding company by a whopping 65 percent. read more >

Fourteen lenders based in Arkansas produced returns on equity (ROE) that topped 13 percent during 2014. The banks were scattered across the state and represented some of the largest and smallest financial institutions. read more >

With national unemployment at 8.3 percent and the statewide rate at 7.3 percent, it's easy to believe that there must be thousands of young professionals desperate for jobs all across the state. Not quite. read more >