American State Bank buys local branch of Texas Bank & Trust

By Kristi Jordan Texarkana Gazette

The Texarkana branch of Texas Bank & Trust, at 4646 Cowhorn Creek Road, is set to become American State Bank.

Steve C. Wiggs, president and CEO of American State Bank and former president of the Texas Bank & Trust, said Thursday American State Bank has entered into an agreement to acquire the local institution.

“We are excited about bringing our brand of community banking to Texarkana, and it is especially rewarding to me personally to be able to reconnect with a community that means a great deal to me,” said Wiggs, who left his post as president of Texas Bank & Trust in Texarkana nearly a year ago to head the independent American State Bank near Tyler.

Arp State Bank is now named American State Bank. Wiggs said the name change is necessary as the institution makesprogress.

“The reason we adopted the American State Bank name is, obviously, as we begin to expand into Tyler and Texarkana, we had to come up with a less geographically restrictive name,” Wiggs said, emphasizing that American State Bank is poised to strengthen the local Texas Bank & Trust.

Wiggs said Texas Bank & Trust has approximately $80 million in loans and $30 million in deposits, so it ’s a good fit for American State Bank.

“We’ve got a lot of liquidity and so we can absorb their loan portfolio,” he said. “Our bank is one of the strongest banks its size in Texas. With all of the negativity now in the financial world, I think that’s more important to people than it used to be.”

Wiggs said customers want to be certain they’re dealing with a sound financial institution “and we’re certainly going to try and promote that.”

“We take great pride in the fact that we’ve earned this five-star rating for the past consecutive 19 years. It’s the highest a bank can get for financial soundness,” Wiggs said, explaining they will increase the staff at the local institution by up to six over the next year. Plans include adding more branches to the city as economic development indicates.

Wiggs said the Texarkana area and Texas are in good shape amid the economic woes financial institutions are experiencing nationally.

“What has happened in the financial world really has not impacted Texas as much as it has other parts of the country. This is primarily because ... Texas did not receive the huge increase in real estate values, we’re not going to see near the decline in values other parts of the country sees,” he said.

Wiggs said the acquisition should be complete in 75 days.

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