Bank OZK Ups 13-Month CD Special APY To Near-Rate Leading Level

Arkansas-based Bank OZK is currently offering 5.50% APY on its 13-month CD Special. This limited-time CD Special can be opened with a $1k minimum deposit, with no stated balance cap. No end-date is specified, but CSR said that previous promotional CD rates have lasted at least a month.

Availability and Account Opening

Headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas, Bank OZK has a brick-and-mortar presence in Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and Texas.

While opening a 13-month CD Special can be done online, I’m not completely sure who can open a CD Special online. CSR stated that U.S. citizens, 18 years or older, who live in states where Bank OZK has a branch location should be able to open a CD Special online. The online application accepted all the Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and Texas Zip Codes I entered, but rejected Zip Codes from California, Michigan, New York, and Pennsylvania.

The 13-month CD Special can also be opened at any of the 235 full-service branches, located in Arkansas (76), Florida (44), Georgia (69), North Carolina (23), and Texas (23).

Funding and Other Details

The Bank OZK website is woefully light on documentation with no Truth-in-Savings or other disclosures available. Calling the Customer Care Team was surprisingly unproductive. While extremely polite and cheerful, the CCT member informed me that I needed to contact a branch directly to have my questions about opening a CD Special answered, because CCT had no information about CDs.

I called a branch in North Carolina and spoke with a very helpful CSR. She explained that not all Bank OZK market areas offered the same CD rates, which is the reason CCT told me to contact a branch. LSS, the 5.50% APY may not be available in all market areas, so you may want to check with your local branch. Based on my experience yesterday, I don’t have a lot of confidence in CCT being able to help with any questions or problems with the online application.

• Funding – Online, ACH or wire; in-branch, cashier’s check or cash.
• Ownership – Online, individual or joint; trust can only be opened in-branch.
• Early Withdrawal Penalty – No partial withdrawals, only an early closure with a penalty of 180 days interest on the full balance.
• Interest – Compounded daily/credited monthly; interest can be distributed monthly by check or transferred to a Bank OZK liquid account.
• Maturing Funds – Cashier’s check or internal transfer.
• Grace Period – 10 calendar days.
• Beneficiaries – Up to six, with equal shares. Social Security numbers are not required.
• Credit Check – Soft pull.

Bank Overview

Bank OZK has an overall health grade of "A+" at DepositAccounts.com, with a Texas Ratio of 2.07% (excellent) based on March 31, 2023 data. In the past year, Bank OZK has increased its total non-brokered deposits by $604.28 million, an excellent growth rate of 3.09%. Please refer to our financial overview of Bank OZK (FDIC Certificate # 110) for more details.

Bank OZK’s holding company is a public company (Nasdaq: OZK) and is one of the few regional bank stocks that has a positive year-to-date return (+1.20%). Bank OZK's Q1 2023 earnings reflect a rise of 38.2% from Q1 2022 earnings. An April 21, 2023 article from Zachs Equity Research provides specific details, but also gives the following synopsis:

Results were adversely impacted by lower non-interest income, higher expenses and a rise in provision for credit losses on worsening economic outlook. Yet, there was an improvement in net interest income, driven by higher loan balances and rising rates. Also, the company witnessed a rise in deposit balance during the quarter. The investors turned bullish on the stock, as the share price rose 1.21% in after-hours trading, following the release of the quarterly results.

Bank OZK is also one of the banks that make up the KRE ETF (regional banking ETF). If you don’t follow the KRE ETF closely, it's been down significantly since the March bank failures. As of yesterday, it's down 17.03% for the year.

Bank OZK began in 1903 as Newton Community Bank (a small bank in Jasper, Arkansas) and maintained a financially solid, albeit low profile for the next 90 years. In 1994, with a total of five banking offices in rural Arkansas markets, Newton Community Bank rebranded as Bank of the Ozarks, launching an aggressive growth strategy to expand the number of banking offices and product and service offerings. Following the acquisition of 17 banks between 1999 and 2016, the Bank OZK rebrand went into effect in 2018. Bank OZK currently has more than 230 locations throughout Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and Texas, with assets of $29 billion and more than 600,000 customer accounts.

How the 13-Month CD Special Compares

When compared to similar length-of-term CDs tracked by DepositAccounts.com that are available within the FOM and have minimum deposit requirements of $10k or less, only one bank has a higher rate than currently offered on the Bank OZK 13-Month CD Special. The following table compares the 13-Month CD Special to the two highest-rate CDs from credit unions and the two highest-rate CDs from other banks.

The above information and rates are accurate as of 6/30/2023.

To look for the best CD rates, both nationwide and state specific, please refer to our CD rates table page.