First Security Bank officers said Wednesday during a groundbreaking ceremony for their Hot Springs market headquarters location that their goal is to be the community bank of Hot Springs.
"That is our objective in every market we're in, and that's what we look to do here -- to be just another extension of the brand in Hot Springs," said Scott Dews, market president.
The new, almost $4 million bank will be located at 4129 Central Ave., adjacent to Riser Nissan, and plans call for at least four branches over the next seven years, Dews said.
Dews said the new bank will mean more local jobs, "but at this point we're not sure what that will look like, but we'll be staffing a full retail center."
Chairman and CEO Reynie Rutledge said the Hot Springs bank is the company's 76th location, all in Arkansas, which gave rise to the company's motto, "Only in Arkansas."
"We're in Arkansas and that's the only place we want to be at this point. Hot Springs is certainly a focal point and destination point for people in Arkansas, and we felt like in order to serve our customers and hopefully some new customers, this would be a good place to be and a good time to come," he said.
"For several years, I've said Hot Springs looked like a good market, that there were a lot of banks here and they are probably doing a good job of taking care of everybody, but we feel like there are some opportunities that have come about and as we expanded to Little Rock a few years ago, and then Benton and Bryant, the next logical step was to Hot Springs," he said.
Rutledge said Dews, who will head up the local operation, has worked for the company in Bryant for several years alongside Rutledge's son.
"He was doing a great job and we felt like he could come into this market. I don't care who you are or what you're doing, if you don't have good people, it's tough," he said.
Rutledge said First Security started out in small towns serving the needs of the communities and as it has grown to a $4.8 billion company, the goal has been to maintain a community feel, to be involved in the community, and provide banking services to meet the communities needs.
"We feel like our knowledge of Arkansas and our customers, and hopefully our understanding of what their needs are will give us a little advantage in order to better serve the Hot Springs community," he said.
While Hot Springs is the bank's 76th location in Arkansas, Rutledge said "we probably don't have enough in Arkansas and we're working on that. We're just excited for our next move in Arkansas to be Hot Springs. We're very excited about that."
Local on 03/26/2015