While offering state-of-the-art technology at its new bank branch in Jonesboro, FNBC Bank is also employing some of the traditional amenities first used when it was chartered more than a century ago.
The 5,800-square-foot branch building, located at Race Street and Fair Park Boulevard in the center of Jonesboro, celebrated its grand opening last month.
FNBC Bank opened a “limited production office” in Jonesboro in August 2018 and then converted it to a full-service branch bank in January 2019. Ten months later, bank officials bought a 14-acre tract of land for its new banking center and construction began in May 2020.
Work was completed on the building in January 2021.
Brad Snider
Brad Snider, FNBC’s Jonesboro community president, said the bank had plans to build the branch for the future. “We wanted to take advantage of technology and make it different than anything else in Jonesboro.”
The branch is equipped with an interactive teller machine, or ITM, that is referred to as a “branch in a box.” It allows customers to communicate with customer service representatives stationed at the bank’s headquarters in Ash Flat when dealing with more complex issues than what a standard ATM can do.
The bank is open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays and is open on Saturdays.
“It works out well for our customers,” Snider said.
Marty Sellars
The one-story bank also features large windows that provide adequate natural lighting and serves as a metaphor for the bank’s desire to be transparent, said Marty Sellars, president and chief executive officer of FNBC.
“When we talked with the design firm, part of our request was to make an extension of who we are,” Sellars said. “We are a very open bank. The glass and openness speak to who we are. It speaks to the community.”
The building was designed by Adrenaline Agency of Atlanta. Ramson Inc. of Jonesboro served as the general contractor on the project.
FNBC Bank is a community bank that supports commercial loans and personal accounts. In the past few years, the bank has focused strongly on supporting businesses, said FNBC spokesman Molly Day. It also expanded the bank’s Small Business Administration loan program, providing increased opportunities for small business owners to start and to grow their businesses.
It opened in 1912 as the Bank of Ash Flat in Sharp County and has 11 offices serving Ash Flat, Batesville, Cherokee Village, Hardy, Highland, Horseshoe Bend, Mammoth Spring, Melbourne, Mountain Home, Salem and Jonesboro.
The bank’s assets total $62 million. It’s issued $59.5 million loans and has $21.6 million into total deposits. Overall, the FNBC system has $604 in total assets, $391.5 million in loans and $460.8 million in deposits.
The branch is on large enough land for any future expansions, Snider said. There’s a large lobby and waiting area, but there’s no wasted space, he said.
“It’s a great community bank,” he said. “It’s not process-driven. Here, we deal with you as a customer. Our style is, ‘pull up a chair, and let’s talk.’”
Jonesboro is currently home to 21 banks and while some may think that’s excessive, the Craighead County seat of 76,000 can support them, Snider said.
“Jonesboro is a vibrant community,” he said. “It’s growing. It’s really where everybody wants to be. It’s the hub of northeast Arkansas.”
There are three major elements that drive the area’s economy, Snider said. Arkansas State University is home to almost 14,000 students and is the largest employer in the county. Several industries are based in Jonesboro, including many food producers, and the medical community is thriving with St. Bernards Medical and NEA Baptist Memorial Hospital.
“It translates to customers,” Snider added.
“People work in Jonesboro and send their kids to school here,” Sellars added. “It makes sense we merge into Jonesboro with a banking office.”
The bank’s one-story structure stands apart from other banks in town. During the past two decades, new banks built in Jonesboro towered over the town like four- and five-story monoliths, perhaps as implied symbols of economic strength.
Sellars acknowledges the other banks’ large sizes — one is directly across the street from the FNBC’s Jonesboro branch. But size isn’t everything, he said.
“We’re about relationships with people, not buildings,” he said. “We have smaller offices in the branch. Our concept speaks for itself.”
Both bankers have years of Arkansas experience. Sellars began working at the Bank of Franklin in Horseshoe Bend immediately after he graduated high school. He’s worked with FNBC for 38 years and was named the president and chief executive officer in 2016 after longtime CEO Martin Carpenter retired.
Snider is a 30-year veteran of banking in Jonesboro and Jackson County. A native of Jonesboro, he joined FNBC in 2018.
The bank looks for long-term stability in its hiring practices, too, Snider said.
“We look at integrity, relationships and accountability when hiring,” he said. “We really are people focused.
“Other banks may be process oriented and deal with people with the core values we do,” he added. “FNBC has been around for more than 100 years. We’re still talking to people.”
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