Bank buy update.

Remember when we told you in February about an interstate bank buy in the works?

First Community Bancshares Inc. of Batesville is purchasing Goodman State Bank in southwest Missouri.

GSB, headquartered in its namesake town, has two other offices in Pineville and Neosho, with total assets of about $13.7 million and a 2007 profit of $59,000. The bank has a 6.2 percent market share in deposits, ranking fifth among six McDonald County lenders.

Two familiar names on the Arkansas banking scene have the second- and third-largest banking presence in the GSB's home county: U.S. Bank of Minneapolis and Arvest Bank of Fayetteville.

Why would First Community fool with such a small purchase?

Well, the Missouri bank charter does open the doors for First Community to do business across the Show Me State.

First Community recorded total assets of $481 million and a profit of $3.5 million during 2007. The bank has three offices each in Batesville and Searcy and one each in Bald Knob, Cabot, Cave City and Hardy.

Goodman, about 20 miles south of Joplin, has a population of about 1,100. We remember Goodman as a one-time speed trap in days gone by, but improvements to U.S. Highway 71 may have put an end to the town's motorist-driven, revenue-enhancement program.