Four of the leading banks in Arkansas were recognized this spring as top-performing lenders. The measuring stick used by the Independent Community Bankers of America: three-year average return on assets.

El Dorado’s First Financial Bank ranked No. 6 among lenders with assets of between $300 million and $1 billion with a 3.15 percent ROA during 2014-2016.

Among lenders with assets of more than $1 billion, Little Rock’s Bank of the Ozarks ranked No. 14 at 2.09 percent, Searcy’s First Security Bank ranked No. 16 at 2.08 percent, and Conway’s Centennial Bank ranked No. 22 at 1.83 percent.

ICBA represents more than 5,800 banks with $4.7 trillion in assets and 760,000 employees nationwide.

Government scrutiny of Harbor Portfolio Advisors of Dallas has contributed more baggage to weigh down a would-be sale of Arkansas’ smallest bank.

Two of the three prospective buyers of an 87.3 percent stake in Community State Bank of Bradley (Lafayette County) are affiliated with Harbor Portfolio Advisors: Chad Vose, president of the company, and Farzana Giga, chief financial officer.

HPA, one of the largest sellers of foreclosed homes in the nation, has drawn fire for its alleged predatory lending prices.

The company’s seller-financed home sales and operations attracted the investigative crosshairs of The New York Times last year and more follow-up this year.

HPA’s foreclosure sales practices also have drawn fire from the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the city of Cincinnati.

A U.S. Appeals Court upheld the CFPB’s subpoena power to investigate Harbor for potential violations of the federal Truth in Lending Act, the Consumer Financial Protection Act and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act.

Cincinnati sued Harbor Portfolio Advisors for unpaid fines and alleged failure to properly maintain dozens of homes sold through a contract for deed.

The action is part of a crackdown on private investment firms that sold foreclosed homes on high-interest installment contracts to poor residents who could not get traditional bank mortgages.

Lex Golden, chairman and CEO of Allcorp Inc., said in a bankruptcy court creditors’ hearing last month that the inquiry into Harbor Portfolio Advisors was a contributing factor in last month’s termination of the proposed purchase of his family’s controlling stake in Allcorp.

Allcorp, the parent company of the $15.5 million-asset Community State Bank, entered bankruptcy court 11 months ago.

Allcorp’s prime debt, secured by all outstanding shares of Community State Bank, is $1.3 million owed to Heartland Bank of Little Rock. Unpaid interest on the loan will total more than $61,900 at the end of June.

Heartland advocates selling the bank to remedy Allcorp’s flagging fortunes. The Golden family thinks the situation can be reversed if the Heartland debt undergoes a generous restructuring.

Community State lost $246,000 last year. The bank recorded a $13,000 loss in the first quarter with total equity capital of $2.6 million.

Community banks did not cause the 2008 housing and economic crisis. However, due to the regulatory creation of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act — Washington’s response to the crisis — small community financial institutions have borne the brunt of its effects. They have been unfairly punished with burdensome regulations that have increased paperwork and reduced productivity and services in too many of our communities.

As a former chief executive of a locally owned community bank in Little Rock that existed before and after the implementation of Dodd-Frank, I saw firsthand how regulatory requirements for smaller financial institutions created an unreasonable burden that makes it exceptionally difficult for them to fulfill their roles in providing consumers, small businesses and entrepreneurs with competitive services and access to credit and capital.

The number of banks chartered in Arkansas has gone from more than 250 in the mid-1990s to around 100 today. A large contributor to this has been increased regulatory burden from the federal government. These institutions have remained well-capitalized and should never have been unfairly punished for the mistakes of the federal government and larger financial institutions.

Before the expansion of the federal safety net, first with the formation of the Federal Reserve System in 1913, followed by the creation of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. during the Great Depression, bank shareholders held substantially higher ratios of capital to assets. While there was a slight uptick during the early 1990s following the passage of the FDIC Improvement Act of 1991, over the past century, ratios of shareholder equity capital to assets for commercial banks have fallen.

Unfortunately for taxpayers, capital ratios at some of the largest financial institutions remained low even after the new Prompt Corrective Action penalties and new capital expectations of the FDIC Improvement Act. For example, at the time of the 2008 housing crisis, Citicorp had a capital ratio of only 4.03 percent for its Tier 1 leverage ratio.

The Dodd-Frank Act of 2010 has only worsened this issue, layering more “macroprudential” regulation and more regulatory expense, while not substantially reducing the moral hazard underlying our “too big to fail” banks. In fact, some argue that the moral hazard actually has been enhanced by the institutionalization of the “too big to fail” doctrine emphasized in the Dodd-Frank Act.

The centerpiece of the House Financial Services Committee bill, known as the Financial CHOICE Act (Creating Hope & Opportunity for Investors, Consumers & Entrepreneurs), is a significant change in approach. To reduce the moral hazard and increase the “microprudential” attention of bank managers, directors and shareholders, the Financial CHOICE Act offers a voluntary capital election.

This is being termed as a “regulatory off-ramp” for financial institutions with high capital. Generally, for a bank or credit union to be considered well-capitalized by the FDIC today, the institution must have a Tier 1 leverage ratio of 5 percent or higher. In Title VI of the Financial CHOICE Act, we double that level to 10 percent or higher.

The 10 percent level was arrived at by reviewing bank failures over time at various levels of Tier 1 capital. Additionally, in April 2015, FDIC Vice Chairman Tom Hoenig proposed a similar off-ramp concept and also established a 10 percent Tier 1 capital leverage ratio as a good working number for his proposal.

This voluntary off-ramp concept is available to all banks that would avail themselves of its provisions. However, it is unlikely that the nation’s largest, most complex institutions will be able to justify the dramatic increase in equity capital to achieve the regulatory benefits.

A recent Congressional Budget Office report confirms this: “CBO expects that most of the financial institutions that chose to maintain a leverage ratio at 10 percent would be those with assets below $10 billion, commonly known as community banks.” And that “the eight large banks headquartered in the United States that are characterized as globally systemic important banks would not make the election because they would have to raise much more capital.”

However, we estimate that about 75 percent of community banks and credit unions scattered across the main streets and avenues of our cities already hold Tier 1 capital at the 10 percent threshold. By availing themselves of this voluntary mechanism, community banks will have more options when it comes to product innovation and services for small businesses, consumers, families, farmers and our entrepreneurs across the nation.

Alexander Hamilton said that banks are the “nurseries of our national wealth.” Those of us on the House Financial Services Committee who worked on this bill believe that the centerpiece of our Financial CHOICE Act will encourage more equity capital to be maintained by banks, making our banks safer and therefore giving them the flexibility to serve the public in good times and bad.

French Hill represents the 2nd Congressional District of Arkansas in the U.S. House of Representatives. Email him online at Hill.House.gov.

Arkansas Business' "Foundations" interview series continues with Jon Harrison, owner of VIP2 of Little Rock, a consultancy that helps businesses and other organizations through leadership training programs for staff at all levels.

In this episode, Harrison talks about the capability to be a good leader, how to handle workplace conflicts, and the philosophy behind developing "values-driven, informed and passionate people" in the workplace.

The "Foundations" series aims to highlight key tools for success for businesses, nonprofits and other organizations. The first four videos of the series focus on leadership and feature interviews with Harrison, Gina Radke of Galley Support Innovations of Sherwood and Fitz Hill, director of the Scott Ford Center for Entrepreneurship & Community Development and the Arkansas Baptist College Foundation.

Full Interview

Harrison, a former plant manager for Caterpillar Inc., leverages decades of leadership experience to help companies and organizations of all sizes.

"We try to give them the tools that help them understand how to communicate with people, how to hold people accountable," he says. "For example, one thing that I wish someone would have taught me when I was a young supervisor is [how to have] difficult conversations. That's the cornerstone really of any relationship."

Harrison also talks about how personality types inform how managers relate to direct reports, how different countries have different ideas about what makes a good leader, and how managers can create a healthy workplace that has a positive effect on employees' families and communities.

Sam Selig has been hired as director of operations in the water division at Entegrity's Little Rock corporate headquarters. He was previously vice president at Instrument & Supply Inc. 

Erik Swindle has been hired as director of business development at Clear Energy in Little Rock. He was previously director of facility services at Cromwell.

Financial Services

Erica Loftis has been hired as a private lending adviser at Regions Bank in Little Rock. Loftis was previously a treasury management sales officer at IberiaBank. 

Susan S. Lanigan has been added to the board of directors of Simmons First National Corp. of Pine Bluff. Lanigan is executive vice president and general counsel of Chico's FAS Inc. in Fort Myers, Florida.

Jeff Wilkinson has been promoted from vice president of information technology to senior vice president of Farmers Bank of Greenwood. 

Ben Bailey has joined the Tabor Group, a team within Raymond James Advisor Select in Little Rock, as first vice president. 

Hospitality/Tourism

Shannon Harris has transitioned from sports manager to guest services manager at the North Little Rock Convention & Visitors Bureau. 

DeShay Major has been hired as the director of catering and convention services at the Holiday Inn Little Rock Airport & Conference Center.  

Insurance

Joshua Lundin has been promoted from supervisor to manager of payables and fixed assets at Arkansas Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Little Rock. 

Jennifer Wilson and Spencer Mathews have received promotions and Courtney Wilson has been hired at JTS Financial of Little Rock. Jennifer Wilson has been promoted to chief operating officer from executive account manager in Little Rock. Mathews has been promoted from producer/account manager to chief analytical officer in Little Rock. Courtney Wilson has been hired as an account manager in the Jonesboro office. 

Transportation

Mark Williams has been hired as director of human resources and administration at Clinton National Airport. He was previously director of human resources at the American Case Management Association. 

A 222-unit apartment project in west Little Rock weighed in at $5.15 million.

Ridgecrest LRAR LLC of Encino, California, acquired its namesake complex at 1900-2000 Reservoir Road from Tri-5 LLC, an affiliate of Trinity Multifamily in Fort Smith.

The deal is backed with a $3.3 million loan from Bellwether Enterprise Mortgage Investments LLC of Columbia, Maryland.

The 9.31-acre development previously was linked with a September 2015 mortgage of $3.9 million held by Firstar Bank of Sallisaw, Oklahoma.

Tri-5 purchased the project for $3.6 million 21 months ago from the Frank R. Warren & Joanne C. Warren Trust.

Consolidating Ownership

A 9,909-SF office building in North Little Rock rang up a $525,000 sale.

Keith and Melanie Grayson bought sole ownership of the Lakewood Professional Building at 4701 Fairway Ave. from Sharon Davis.

The deal for Davis' 50 percent stake is funded with a $681,864 loan from Centennial Bank of Conway.

The 0.79-acre development previously was tied to a July 2002 loan of $837,250 originated by Twin City Bank of North Little Rock.

The site was acquired for $233,000 in July 2001 from Land Associates of Arkansas Inc., led by William Alfonso.

Office Space

A 3,603-SF piece of a west Little Rock office building changed hands in a $412,000 transaction.

RS & CS Properties LLC, led by Russell Simmons and Creighton Simmons, purchased the Teague Vision Clinic space at 11115 Hermitage Road from the Randy & Gayle Teague Living Trust.

The property is securing $866,000 of debt held by the trust. The Teagues, investors in the half-acre TCB West de-velopment with Mark Cathey and J. Taun Berry, bought the site in October 1997 from Randall Machen for $130,000.

Church Property

A 6.53-acre church development in south Little Rock sold for $357,000.

Colonel Glenn Church of Christ ac-quired the 7001 Col. Glenn Road project from Life Unlimited Christian Fellowship.

The deal is financed with a five-year loan of $375,000 and a one-year loan of $100,000 from The Solomon Foundation of Parker, Colorado.

Life Unlimited purchased the property for $135,000 in June 1980 from the Pulaski County Baptist Association. 

Branch Buy

A 2,904-SF bank branch in Sherwood drew a $356,000 transaction.

JWJ Investments LLC, led by Steve Jenkins, bought the former Twin City Bank facility at 301 E. Kiehl Ave. The seller is Cabot Bankshares, an affiliate of Home BancShares Inc. of Conway since its acquisition more than 13 years ago.

The 0.96-acre development, originally a branch of Little Rock's Union Bank of Arkansas, was acquired for $475,000 in October 1997.

The seller was NationsBank of Charlotte, North Carolina, the predecessor to Bank of America.

Showroom Purchase

A 4,500-SF showroom in southwest Little Rock is under new ownership after a $300,000 sale.

The Jose Ernesto Turcios & Patricia Feride Zarruk Revocable Trust purchased the 8517 Geyer Springs Road project from Wells Fargo Bank of Sioux City, South Dakota.

The bank recovered the 0.41-acre development from Dairy Bell LLC of Houston, Texas, at a $288,000 foreclosure sale in November 2015.

Residential Swap

Residential lots and an 8,832-SF home in the Orle neighborhood of west Little Rock were on either side of a swap val-ued at $1.4 million.

Rick and Deanna Ferguson and limited liability companies associated with his real estate developments traded seven lots in the Waterview Estates neighborhood of west Pulaski County and one lot in Little Rock's Valley Falls Estates neighborhood for the house.

The residence, owned by the Oscar & Doris Washington Family Trust, previously was linked with a December 2006 mortgage of $880,000 held by Regions Bank of Birmingham, Alabama, and an April 2015 mortgage of $500,000 held by First Security Bank of Searcy.

The location was acquired for $147,000 in July 2006 from Deltic Timber Corp. of El Dorado.

The Orle home, now tied to a three-year loan of $845,000 from First Security, is owned by Ferguson's Waterview Estates Phase III LLC.

ODS Enterprises LLC, led by Oscar Washington, received the Valley Falls Estates lot from the Fergusons, three lots in Waterview Estates from Waterview Estates LLC and two lots in Waterview Estates each from SWLR Properties LLC and Waterview Estates Phase III LLC.

The lots are now securing a five-year loan of $1 million from Simmons Bank of Pine Bluff.

Chenal Downs

A 3,322-SF home in west Little Rock's Chenal Downs neighborhood rang up an $800,000 sale.

Robert and Carlene Lyle bought the 6.78-acre spread from Michelle Calhoun. The deal is backed with a 30-year loan of $424,100 from Simmons Bank.

The house was acquired for $725,000 in August 2005 from Steven Young Jr. and his wife, Cindy.

Waterview Meadows

A 4,313-SF home in the Waterview Meadows neighborhood of west Pulaski County changed hands in a $644,000 deal. Dear Rosie LLC, led by Jerrilyn
Clay, purchased the house from BK & BK Builders LLC, led by Larry Evans and
Brian Dumont.

The deal is backed with a 30-year loan of $515,200 from Wells Fargo Bank. The residence previously was linked with a September 2015 mortgage of $468,000 held by Little Rock's Bank of the Ozarks.

The location was bought for $76,000 22 months ago from Waterview Meadows LLC, led by Bill Parkinson.

Heights Home Site

A 0.3-acre site near the Country Club of Little Rock sold for $629,000.

Hawthorne Back Forty LLC, led by Curtis Finch, acquired the land from Porter Briggs and Diane Wilder.

The land previously was tied to a March 2017 loan of $468,750 from Simmons Bank.

Briggs and Wilder bought the land for $625,000 three months ago from James and Linda Landers. The Landers family purchased the property for $645,000 in October 2014 from Michael Carney.

Sherrill Heights Abode

A 3,312-SF home in Little Rock's Sherrill Heights neighborhood drew a $547,500 transaction.

Jeffrey and Charley Swann bought the house from Howard and Jane Turney.

The deal is funded with a 30-year loan of $379,500 from Simmons Bank. The residence previously was linked with a November 2016 mortgage of $301,400 held by Wells Fargo Bank.

The Turneys acquired the property for $186,000 in July 1997 from Joseph
and Darla Jarvis. 

Canal Pointe House

A 2,374-SF home in Little Rock's Canal Pointe neighborhood is under new ownership after a $516,000 sale.

Howard and Jane Turney purchased the house from the Mary Jo Scott Re-
vocable Trust. The deal is financed with a 15-year loan of $350,000 from Simmons Bank.

The trust bought the property for $375,000 in February 2012 from Otto Verch.

Bank of the Ozarks of Little Rock said Tuesday that it has completed a corporate reorganization that merged Bank of the Ozarks Inc., the bank's parent holding company, with its bank, which continues as the surviving corporation. 

The publicly traded firm said eliminating the holding company will create "a more efficient corporate structure," and that its operations, directors and executive officers will not change.

The Arkansas-chartered bank, the state's largest by assets, replaces Bank of the Ozarks Inc. as the publicly-traded entity. Shareholders of the holding company automatically became shareholders of the bank, and the company's common stock continues to trade on the Nasdaq under the "OZRK" symbol.

Greg McKinney, the bank's chief financial officer, describe the restructuring in an April 11 conference call. 

"This proposal is intended to further improve our efficiency by eliminating redundant corporate infrastructure and the associated duplicative federal regulatory oversight," he said. "We have studied this for several months, and we expect the elimination of our holding company will have substantial benefits and no material adverse impact on our combined company, shareholders, customers or employees."

This is an updated version of a previously published article.

As the owner of a CPA practice, I’m always interested in the daily detail and I take the time to communicate with my staff on ways to improve our tax practice and service to our clients.

Recently, there has been a lot of presidential rhetoric about major tax reform in the scope of those seen in the Reagan years. From an accounting standpoint, sometimes complexity can be resolved with simplicity. As I learned in law school, income taxation is a consortium of social policies — not a rigid set of rules for tax collections.

As April 18 has come and gone and we begin to prepare almost immediately for April 2018, I thought suggesting a few tax code tweaks to our congressmen in the name of simplicity might get us down the road more quickly and result in a more sociable, equitable tax code for my constituents, the small business owners. Here are six steps to consider that follow good social policy, which I would hope lawmakers would agree are worthy of implementing.

Step 1: Follow the social policy of helping working families, namely two-wage earning family members, and allow them to file on the same return and start at zero income and tax, and then pay tax on graduated income and rates. This effectively gets rid of stacking one spouse’s income on top of another and allows each spouse to pay tax on his or her respective income if it’s more advantageous. This step is the simplest and reaches the largest segment of the tax base, our dual income working families. They’re the backbone of society and currently bear an undue amount of taxes and paperwork. A bonus for Arkansans, this is how we calculate our Arkansas individual income tax.

Step 2: Providing further education (after high school graduation) is another sound social policy. Allow a full tax deduction by the parent or student (with a high school diploma) for all out-of-pocket educational expenditures. This extended deduction should cover all additional education in the form of technical training, serving apprenticeships, or college and university schooling. As we all know, more educated or trained individuals create higher wage earners (and taxpaying) individuals.

Step 3: Eliminate any and all limitations on itemized medical deductions. It is sound social policy to have a healthy society. Medical expense either for treatment or prevention of physical or mental diseases should be fully deductible and not subject to floor limitations. With the boomer generation aging out, if income is spent on medical care, why not allow it to be fully deducted and not subjected to income tax? I have yet to meet anyone who has been able to save his or her way to good health. Changing the perception that medical treatment is an investment and not an expense can change the overall health and wealth of our society. 

Step 4: Eliminate limitations on charitable giving. Charitable giving is good social policy for individuals and for society. If an individual wants to donate more than 50 percent of his or her adjusted gross income a year to a charitable cause, they should be allowed to do so, and to fully deduct the donation against their income earned for the year. The more we are encouraged to help those around us, the less help will be needed in the future from government programs and the tax revenues required to fund those programs.

Step 5: Provide for one graduated tax structure for all taxpayers. This can be done in a series of smaller steps:

1. Eliminate the Alternative Minimum Tax. If the tax rate structure is graduated, then leave it graduated and eliminate the flat rate tax from the tax structure. The most common AMT added back to income is state income tax. If an individual pays it, allow the deduction.
2. Reinstate the 10 percent Investment Tax Credit for all purchases of IRC 1245 type property, namely business vehicles, equipment, furniture and fixtures. Allow the credit to reduce tax liability dollar for dollar, and allow for carry backs and carry forwards for unused amounts.
3. Stop limiting capital losses on the sale or exchange of a capital asset. I have been practicing for 40 years and have never understood the practice of limiting capital losses on the sale or exchange of a capital asset. If you have a graduated tax system for income and tax rates, why do you cut the capital loss off at the pass, and say “No, you cannot deduct this loss against your other income even though you have incurred a tax loss.”? The practice has been around since I began practicing and I still don’t get it.

Step 6: Eliminate the limit on passive type losses and the limit of their deductibility against income earned, which is then subjected to higher graduated rates. The tax system is a graduated rate and income driven, but then kicks out certain types of losses and taxes the remaining income at higher rates. If the passive loss limitation were removed from the graduated tax system, then wouldn’t it serve as sound social policy to encourage investment in real estate property? If you change the depreciable lives of commercial real estate buildings and structures to 15 years, it would encourage real estate investment, the economy would grow and additional tax revenues would be collected.

Final step

On a recent flight into Little Rock, I visited with Dennis Cooper, CPA at Frost PLLC. Dennis mentioned that he had read the Six Steps to Tax Reform, but felt a seventh step was needed. He asked why there should be a tax on social security benefits. I pondered the question and thought this probably should be the number one item meshing social policy with tax policy. 

Step 7: Remove the tax on social security payments. When you pay in your social security tax on wages and profits earned from your trade or business, you pay with tax dollars that are federally and state taxed. You cannot deduct the social security and Medicare tax of 7.65 percent as a tax deduction. Yet, when you retire and/or become disabled and report over $30,000 of gross income when filing your tax return, (current tax policy) the government taxes you up to 85 percent of the amount received. If we wanted to make the tax code simple and more fair, retirees and disabled employees — who probably now live on less income than when a member of the working public — would not pay taxes on social security or disability benefits. Would that not benefit our retirees and disabled employees, who probably live on less income than when they were working yet have increased need for additional dollars for basic food, clothing, shelter, as well as added medical bills? Thanks Dennis, for Step 7.

Over the next several months, and possibly years, I am certain tax reform and discussion will continue with a positive outcome for those of us who pay all the taxes. Regardless of the level of change, it might be good social practice to start small, with the steps above. Any headway is progress. However, should our political leaders achieve a large scale overhaul, rest assured I will be more than excited to learn about the changes and assist my clients in preparing their returns.

Harps Food Stores Inc. of Springdale sold its Price Cutter Food Warehouse in Springdale a few months after buying it.

Harps sold the 48,450-SF facility for $2.1 million to P10B LLC of Springdale, which is led by Miles Kimbel. Harps bought the Price Cutter in December for $1.12 million from Harp, Harp & Van Hoose General Partnership, a group that had a lease agreement with Harps with the Price Cutter as tenant.

Harps Food Store signed a 15-year lease with Kimbel in conjunction with the sale. Harps has 10 five-year extension options and the right to match any purchase offer from a third party. 

The purchase includes six parcels that total approximately 3.6 acres. Generations Bank of Rogers assisted the acquisition with a loan of $1.78 million.

Madison Plaza

A Texas investor paid $1.6 million for a 53,000-SF Springdale shopping center.

Highway 71 Properties LLC of Katy, Texas, led by Wanda J. Braswell, bought Madison Plaza at 2505 S. Thompson St. from Madison Plaza LLC, led by John Flake. 

The shopping center covers 3.7 acres and is fully leased. Central Bank of Branson of Branson, Missouri, provided a loan of $1.36 million.

Johnson Two for One

Maverick Commercial Park in Johnson changed ownership in a pair of linked transactions totaling $2.2 million.

KWMPR 3801 Main LLC of Bentonville, led by Larry Robison, bought the 15,424-SF center and surrounding half-acre in separate deals. Robison, a real estate agent with Keller Williams, is part of a group that plans to relocate a Keller Williams office at Maverick.

KWMPR bought the half-acre fronting the park for $265,000 from Maverick Properties LLC of Springdale, led by Mat-thew Dearnley and John Flake. Dearnley is CEO of Flake & Kelley Commercial Northwest and the son-in-law of John Flake, its chairman. KWMPR paid $1.935 million to The Shoppes at the Mill LLC of Springdale for the park itself, which is at 3801 Johnson Mill Road. The Shoppes at the Mill is led by John Flake and Bill Hanna, the president of Hanna Oil & Gas Co. of Fort Smith. Citizens Bank of Batesville provided a $1.6 million loan.

All Star Sports Arena

A 120,000-SF sports arena in Springdale was sold for $2.3 million.

Arkansas Warehouse Group LLC of Johnson, led by Gary Nichols, bought the All Star Sports Arena. The sellers were Shane and Shelly Willis of Pea Ridge, who  bought the arena for $2.1 million in 2014.

The arena and lot, at 1906 Cambridge St., cover 6 acres, and Grand Bank of Tulsa provided a $1.84 million loan. The Willises bought the arena from Simmons First National Bank, which recovered the property from David and Connie Harris and Richard and Linda Harris at a $2.2 million foreclosure sale in 2013.

Former Restaurant

A former Ruby Tuesday restaurant in Fayetteville sold for just over $1 million.

The property, at 1031 S. Krupa Drive, just off MLK Jr. Boulevard, was bought by Heaven Sent Properties LLC of Fayetteville, led by Brian Smith and William Rodney Coats. Smith and Coats are partners in SmitCo Eateries Inc., a regional franchisee of Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen and Captain D's restaurants. 

The seller was Ruby Tuesday subsidiary RT Western Missouri Franchise LLC. The chain, based in Maryville, Tennessee, closed the 4,372-SF Fayetteville restaurant last year. Arvest Bank of Rogers provided a loan of $840,000.

Smith and Coats also bought property on MLK east of Interstate 49, including the former Blockbuster Video store at 2222 MLK. The 6,500-SF building is currently home to a moving company.

Smith and Coats bought the properties through SCE Properties LLC for $1.45 million from Robbie and Donald Marley, Debora and Larry Johnson and Elizabeth Ruble, all of Lebanon, Missouri. Arvest Bank lent the project about $1.3 million.

SmitCo recently sold two Popeyes in northwest Arkansas for $4.4 million to HZ Props RE Ltd. of Sugar Land, Texas. HZ is led by Amin Dhanani, president of Z&H Foods Inc., which runs a large national chain of Burger Kings and Popeyes.

Smith told Arkansas Business in early June that he had sold all his Popeyes; he did not return calls seeking clarification. 

WASHINGTON — Long-term U.S. mortgage rates were unchanged to lower this week, as the benchmark 30-year rate reached a new low for the year.

Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 3.88 percent, down from 3.90 percent last week. The rate stood at 3.48 percent a year ago and averaged a record low 3.65 percent in 2016.

The 15-year, fixed-rate home loan, popular with homeowners seeking to refinance their mortgages, was unchanged last week at 3.17 percent.

Mortgage rates have remained low even though the Federal Reserve has been raising short-term interest rates. The Fed has increased its key rate by a quarter-point three times since December, most recently this month, to a range of 1 to 1.25 percent.

At the same time, would-be home buyers are facing higher prices and fewer options. Sales listings have plunged 8.4 percent over the past 12 months to 1.96 million. The median sales price in May rose 5.8 percent from a year ago to $252,800.

Data issued Wednesday by the National Association of Realtors showed that Americans signed fewer contracts to buy homes in May, the third straight monthly decline and evidence that a shortage of homes for sale has suppressed purchases.

To calculate average mortgage rates, Freddie Mac surveys lenders across the country between Monday and Wednesday each week. The average doesn't include extra fees, known as points, which most borrowers must pay to get the lowest rates. One point equals 1 percent of the loan amount.

The average fee for a 30-year mortgage this week was unchanged at 0.5 point. The fee on 15-year loans also held steady at 0.5 point.

Rates on adjustable five-year loans increased to 3.17 percent from 3.14 percent. The fee remained at 0.5 point.

(All contents © copyright 2017 Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

John W. Ahlen IV, bank chief counsel for the Arkansas State Bank Department, has been named deputy bank commissioner, effective July 2.

He will replace Luther Guinn, who is retiring on Friday.

As deputy bank commissioner, Ahlen will oversee one of two commercial examination groups based in Little Rock, the commercial examination group in Jonesboro and the trust examination group. He will also be responsible for the training and information technology areas of the department.

Ahlen will retain his current position too. He joined the department as bank chief counsel in August 2016.

Previously, Ahlen served as general counsel for the Arkansas Auditor of State and as assistant parliamentarian and legislative analyst for the Arkansas House of Representatives.

He received his juris doctorate from the William H. Bowen School of Law at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 2014 and a bachelor’s of arts in history degree, with an emphasis on politics, from Hendrix College in 1998.

In other staff moves, the department has assigned Bob M. Henry as manager of its newly formed “large bank” examination group.

The new group was developed in response to the growth of several state-chartered banks. As of March 31, five of those banks reported assets in excess of $5 billion.

Henry was hired by the department as a commercial examiner in May 1992 and advanced to certified bank senior examiner. He was promoted to bank examiner manager in February 2013.

In January 2015, Henry was assigned as manager of one of the commercial examination groups based in Little Rock.

He received a bachelor’s degree in business administration in 1991 from Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia. His emphasis was in finance and accounting.

In 2012, Henry earned his credential as a certified fraud examiner from the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners.

Dharmin H. Patel was promoted to Henry’s position as manager of one of the commercial examination groups in Little Rock.

Patel was hired as a commercial examiner in June 2005 and advanced to certified bank senior examiner.

He received a bachelor’s degree in finance and banking, with an emphasis on investments, from the University of Arkansas in June 2005. Patel is also a certified fraud examiner.

Stephens Inc., which launched a multimedia series in May dedicated to bolstering the image of capitalism, is focusing on one of its own — Jack Stephens — in its latest short film in the series.

The film, part of "This Is Capitalism," features Stephens CEO Warren Stephens describing Jack, his father, as essentially the creator of private equity.

Certainly he was an Arkansas investing pioneer. The film describes how Jack Stephens abandoned his young man's dream of going to Wall Street, choosing instead to join his brother Witt in Little Rock to build Stephens Inc. into an investment banking giant. Within a few decades of his graduation from the United States Naval Academy in 1946, Stephens was making millions by betting on young Arkansans who are now household names in the business world: Sam Walton, Don Tyson and Joe T. Ford, to name a few.

"World War II had just ended, and there was a substantial economic boom," Warren Stephens says in the film, which can be found at thisiscapitalism.com. "Dad was planning to go to Wall Street and get a job. The decision to go back to Little Rock does seem obvious in hindsight, but there was a lot of risk professionally in his career to do that."

One of Jack Stephens' innovations was taking his brother's business, which dealt in bonds, and going into equities, investing in regional companies and building up a capital management business.

"He was a venture capitalist before anybody knew that term," said Joe T. Ford, the co-founder of Verizon Wireless forerunner Alltel and a beneficiary of Stephens' guidance. "He would put his money side by side with you in a business."

Some of that money went into a 1968 purchase of an early mainframe computer, a venture that gave birth to Systematics, later called Alltel Information Services. In time, the investment led to a billion-dollar return. In the meantime, Stephens helped take a little-known Arkansas company public. That was Wal-Mart Stores Inc., and the rest is capitalist history.

"He later told me, Joe, most of the money that I've made in my career I've made by betting on people," Ford says in the film. "He bet on Sam Walton at Wal-Mart. He bet on Don Tyson at Tyson Foods. He was a great judge of people, and I think he did make a lot of money by betting on people."

But he always kept his heart in Arkansas, the film's narrator says, leading the rescue of Worthen Bank in the 1980s and "preserving the savings of families across the state."

Warren Stephens, the force behind the film series, was estimated by Forbes in 2016 to have a fortune of $2.4 billion. He owes much of that success to his father, he says, not just for building up the family business but by offering him great advice.

"I learned from Dad the importance of hard work," Warren says on camera. "You work hard every day, you go home with your reputation intact, and you come back the next morning and have a chance to be successful."

With that, the film series slogan appears onscreen: "This Is Capitalism."