Press Release: Cave City, Ark. (Sept. 1, 2026) —The Bank of Cave City is the Exceptional Community Bank Service Award winner for the Independent Community Bankers of America’s (ICBA) National Community Bank Service Awards. The program recognizes outstanding acts of service and creative volunteer efforts of the nation’s community banks. Stories about the winners are featured in the September issue of ICBA’s Independent Banker magazine.
The $190 million-asset bank was recognized for serving as a financial first responder after an EF3 tornado struck Cave City, Ark., destroying essential facilities and leaving the community without power or communications for weeks. After ensuring the bank could continue providing critical banking services, employees mobilized in support of recovery efforts—distributing food, checking on neighbors and making supply runs.
“After the tornado, our team—many of whom were personally affected—stepped forward because this is our home too,” said Bank of Cave City President and CEO John Beller. “Helping our community in its hour of need is how we supported our community’s recovery, and it deepened our resolve to carry out our mission to empower our neighbors to flourish.”
Since the launch of the ICBA National Community Bank Service Awards program in 2002, hundreds of community banks have been recognized for their outstanding contributions to their communities. Bank technology services provider FIS, of Jacksonville, Fla., sponsored this year’s program.
“Bank of Cave City’s response reflects the very best of community banking: neighbors helping neighbors when it truly matters,” ICBA President and CEO Rebeca Romero Rainey said. “Through its ‘We Live Here Too’ initiative that helps direct volunteer efforts, the bank has built a culture of care and connection that made a meaningful difference in Cave City’s recovery.”
For more information about ICBA and the National Community Bank Service Awards, visit ICBA’s website.
About Bank of Cave City
Founded in 1906, Bank of Cave City is a $190 million community bank serving Cave City, Batesville, Evening Shade, Strawberry and Lynn, Arkansas, along with surrounding areas. The full-service bank provides personal and commercial banking with a strong focus on small businesses and agricultural lending for local farms.Guided by its mission to empower neighbors to flourish, Bank of Cave City pairs trusted, relationship-based banking with steady investment in the people and places its employees and customers call home. Learn more at bankofcavecity.com. Member FDIC.
About ICBA
The Independent Community Bankers of America® has one mission: to create and promote an environment where community banks flourish. We power the potential of the nation’s community banks through effective advocacy, education, and innovation.
As local and trusted sources of credit, America’s community banks leverage their relationship-based business model and innovative offerings to channel deposits into the neighborhoods they serve, creating jobs, fostering economic prosperity, and fueling their customers’ financial goals and dreams. For more information, visit ICBA’s website at icba.org.
