Randy Dennis, President of DD&F quoted
Arkansas Democrat | Saturday, March 06, 2010
PB bank to close 9 branches in state
LITTLE ROCK — Simmons First National Corp. will close 10 percent of its branches in June, the Pine Bluff bank said Friday.
The bank will close its only branches in Altus (Franklin County), Cherokee Village (Sharp County), Gould (Lincoln County), Grady (Lincoln County), Hector (Pope County), Huttig (Union County) and Leslie (Searcy County). It also will close its downtown branch in El Dorado and a Jonesboro branch at 1921 Woodsprings Road.
The branches have had a decline in activity in the past several years, said J. Thomas May, Simmons’ chairman and chief executive officer.
“This decline in activity, without realistic expectations for reversing the decline, has led us to the decision to close these locations,” May said in a prepared statement.
It isn’t unusual for a bank to close branches in smaller communities, said Randy Dennis, president of DD&F Consulting Group, a bank consulting firm in Little Rock.
“What Simmons is doing, banks all over the country are doing,” Dennis said. “They are re-evaluating their branch networks. Either they are selling them or closing them. Banks are just doing their best to makeprudent decisions on the allocation of resources.”
Branches in small towns typically can’t be sold, Dennis said.
With the closings, four of the communities - Grady, Hector, Huttig and Leslie - won’t have any bank.
Larry McGee, sheriff of Lincoln County, said some people depend on the branch in Grady, a farming community about 20 miles south of Pine Bluff whose population was 456 in 2008.
The closing is certainto affect the town, McGee said.
“Any business that closes is going to have an impact on our county,” McGee said.
Dennis said, “You hate to see it for the towns. But people will still have access to financial services. They are already driving [to nearby cities] to buy groceries and do their other business.”
No employee will lose his job with the closings, May said. The employees will be reassigned to another branch, he added.
After the nine branches are closed, Simmons will have 79 offices in 40 Arkansas communities.
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