Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
[Operator instructions] your first question comes from the line of Barry McCarver with Stephens, Inc.
Barry McCarver – Stephens, Inc.
Good afternoon, guys, good quarter. A couple of questions here. To start off with, all of your comments a second ago about the industry and asset quality, could you comment on any of the market sin Arkansas you’re still looking at closely and how you expect non-performers minus the credit card portfolio could roll out this year for Simmons.
Tommy May
That’s a good question. I think on the national front with what we call the headwinds that we’re seeing with the national economy a lot of that still has to unfold. But I think that we start the year with good numbers. Certainly until the national part unfolds, we’re not going to know where that’s going to go. But we would be, I guess, somewhat naïve to believe that Arkansas still will not be affected in general. In particular because so many of the challenges that we’re hearing about and seeing in the national economy deal with the residential side, obviously the Northwest region of Arkansas is feeling the brunt of the heat associated with some asset quality challenges. As I mentioned in the text, we have seen a continuation of some foreclosure and bankruptcy filings in that particular area.
Really at this point I think overall Arkansas has just not seen a lot of the challenges but there are still some to be had. Except for the Northwest Arkansas region. We feel like in the Northwest Arkansas area there is some light at the end of the tunnel.
If we look at the market just in general I think what we are seeing, the most positive thing is the two counties, Washington and Benton County continue to have growth. We’re also seeing, as one would expect, not many new permits coming about. Not a lot of lot development and certainly not a lot of construction of new homes. Thus the absorption we hope will continue to look a little bit better.
I guess the bottom line would be, we still feel very good about Arkansas. We still are very concerned about the Northwest Arkansas region in general. But as we have gone through and looked at our particular institution, while we’re going to be affected like everybody else, with the rising tide impact, I think our group is very proactive. I think we’ve done a good job of identifying and quantifying and I think we will the storm as well as it can be weathered.
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