MERCHANTS & PLANTERS BANK

Bank marks 70 years of serving Arkansas communities

The staff of Merchants and Planters Bank is proud to celebrate the bank’s 70th birthday this year. Since its inception back in 1946 in a little Arkansas town called Tupelo, Merchants and Planters’ mission has been to remain a locally owned bank that promotes the economic growth and success of the communities the business serves.

The organization boasts a statistic that few other community banks hold: Merchants and Planters is more than 30 percent employee-owned, meaning the staff has a personal interest in making its customers smile.

Tellers get involved with civic organizations, loan officers volunteer at town events, and the president and CEO helps out in the concessions stand at high school football games. “It’s not enough for us to just get up and come to work every day,” CEO and President Jim Gowen Jr. said. “We need to know the customers we serve and be a part of the towns we call home. These close connections help us make better decisions that will have a positive impact on our local economy.”

The bank has grown to serve nine Arkansas markets: Batesville, Des Arc, McCrory, Newark, Newport, Searcy, Southside, Swifton and Tuckerman.

Merchants and Planters also offers a secondary-mortgage department, a trust and wealth-management division, and a full-service insurance agency.

The bank offers a variety of other convenient products, as well, including online and mobile banking.

And while growth is seen as a good thing, it’s not the most important achievement. Being a trusted local resource for its customers is the bank’s overall goal.