For Bank of the Ozarks Chairman and CEO George Gleason II, the administrative, regulatory, and accounting costs of operating a bank holding company, or BHC, simply outweighed the benefits.
“If you own a lake house but you never go there and use it, and you’re paying taxes and insurance and maintenance on it every year but you don’t use it, it’s not much fun,” Gleason said in an interview.
Gleason is the chairman and CEO of Bank of the Ozarks, the largest bank headquartered in Arkansas with $20.1 billion in assets. He was also the driving force behind the bank’s decision to shed its holding company in April.