Bank of the Ozarks named top performer
Bank of the Ozarks was named the top performing regional bank in the country in its asset size by S&P Global Market Intelligence, the Little Rock bank said Monday.
This is the 12th time Bank of the Ozarks has been awarded the "top performing" honor by leading industry publications over the past eight years.
Bank of the Ozarks outperformed 77 banks included in the analysis, which examined six core financial criteria in profitability, asset quality and loan growth for 2017.
Organizations that selected Bank of the Ozarks as the country's top performing bank in its asset size include S&P Global Market Intelligence in 2012 and 2015-2018, Bank Director magazine in 2013-2017 and ABA Banking Journal in 2011 and 2012.
-- David Smith
Simmons employees move to LR building
Simmons Bank of Pine Bluff has moved about 100 employees into the former Acxiom building in Little Rock's River Market District with plans to have as many as 350 employees in the building early next year, a bank spokesman said.
The announcement that Simmons, the state's third-largest bank with $15.1 billion in assets, had purchased the property from Acxiom for $25 million came a year ago last month.
Work to remodel the building to accommodate bank employees has not yet begun.
"We are finalizing construction plans and hope to complete the project by the first quarter of 2019," said Caroline Makris, marketing manager and vice president at Simmons. "Our four-year plan is to accommodate more than 500" employees.
Opened in 2003, the property was built to support about 600 workers.
Simmons has said it will maintain its headquarters in Pine Bluff.
-- Noel Oman
Arkansas Index falls as trucker stumbles
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, dropped 3.18 to 393.09 on Monday.
"Stocks gave back most of a 2 percent rally late in [Monday's] session after news hit that FBI officers had raided the office of President Donald Trump's personal lawyer," said Chris Harkins, managing director with Raymond James & Associates in Little Rock.
Murphy Oil Corp. shares rose 1.5 percent in below average volume.
Shares of USA Truck Inc. fell 5 percent.
Total volume for the index was 19.2 million shares.
The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.
Business on 04/10/2018