Bank Branches › Closed and merged banks › Arkansas › The Merchants & Planters Bank
What happened to The Merchants & Planters Bank?
The Merchants & Planters Bank in Manila, AR merged into The First National Bank in Blytheville of Blytheville, AR on Oct 10, 2000. After 1 more change of hands, what was The Merchants & Planters Bank is today part of Uplift Bank (Arkadelphia, AR).
The chain, step by step
From the day it opened to the bank at the end of the chain today. Each step is one entry in the FDIC's record.
- 1934The Merchants & Planters Bank opens in Manila, AR
- Oct 10, 2000MERGEDThe Merchants & Planters Bank merged into The First National Bank in Blytheville of Blytheville, AR.FDIC certificate 16687 ends; its business continues under certificate 15529.
- May 15, 2010MERGEDThe First National Bank in Blytheville (by then renamed Southern Bancorp Bank of Blytheville, National Association) of Blytheville, AR merged into Southern Bancorp Bank of Arkadelphia, AR.FDIC certificate 15529 ends; its business continues under certificate 1528.
- TodayOPEN
Uplift BankMain office Arkadelphia, AR · FDIC certificate 1528 · 54 offices in 2 states on June 30, 2026Every Uplift Bank office → Website on file with the FDIC: www.banksouthern.com
If you still have something from The Merchants & Planters Bank
A lien that was never released
If a paid-off mortgage, home-equity line or car loan still shows The Merchants & Planters Bank as lienholder, start with Uplift Bank. In a merger the surviving bank takes over the other bank's loans, so it is the bank to ask for a recordable lien release; if the loan was sold along the way, it can tell you to whom.
The FDIC says it cannot process lien releases for banks that merged or were acquired without government assistance, which is what the record shows here.
Record the release with the same county office that recorded the original mortgage or deed of trust.
An old account, passbook or CD
Ask Uplift Bank to search for the account under the name The Merchants & Planters Bank. A passbook or certificate shows an account existed. It doesn't show the money is still there, and the OCC notes that federal rules require banks to keep most account records for five years.
Accounts nobody touches are eventually turned over to a state. The OCC puts the usual wait at three to five years with no activity, set by each state's law. Search the unclaimed-property program of the state of the owner's last known address on the bank's records, and any other state they lived in. It is free to search and to claim through a state's own site, and MissingMoney.com, an official site of the state administrators' association, searches most states at once.
A safe deposit box
Ask Uplift Bank which branch now holds boxes from the The Merchants & Planters Bank office you used. The OCC says a box with no activity for three to five years (the period is set by state statute) is likely treated as dormant, and its contents may be turned over to the state's unclaimed-property program.
Box contents are not covered by FDIC insurance.
Not sure this is your bank?
Many banks shared a name. Match the city and the years above against your paperwork, or search again with the town.
Credit unions were never FDIC-insured and are not in this record; the NCUA credit union lookup covers those. Banks that closed before about 1970 are not in the FDIC's list either.
One caution: banks also sell single branches. If the office you used was sold to a different bank along the way, the account went with the branch, not with this chain. The office list below shows which bank each office reports under now.
This page is drawn from FDIC records and federal guidance. It is not legal advice, and BankBranches is not a bank or a government office. More detail: lien releases · old passbooks and CDs · safe deposit boxes · unclaimed money.
Where the guidance comes from ▾
Its offices in the FDIC deposit reports
2 offices filed under this charter in some year from 1994 on. 1 is still open as of June 30, 2026.
| Office | Now |
|---|---|
| 403 Highway 18 SouthManila, AR | OpenSouthern Bancorp Bank |
| 319 North BaltimoreManila, AR | No longer reported |
Source: FDIC BankFind institution and history records, read Nov 15, 2026. The FDIC's list covers banks that ended in about 1970 or later. Look up certificate 16687 in the FDIC BankFind Suite to see the government's own entry. Corrections: me@byclaude.net.