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View detailsThe most important bank you've never heard of
If you walk past a luxury condominium tower under construction in Manhattan, a mixed-use development rising in Miami's Brickell district, or a hotel project breaking ground in Los Angeles, there's a meaningful chance the construction loan behind it was originated by a bank headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas. Bank OZK is the largest construction lender in the United States — a distinction that seems almost absurd for an institution that started as a single-branch bank in Jasper, Arkansas, population 500.
Founder and CEO George Gleason purchased the tiny Bank of the Ozarks in 1979 when it had $28 million in assets. Through disciplined organic growth and strategic acquisitions, he built it into a $36 billion-asset institution that finances some of the largest and most complex real estate projects in the country. The 2018 rebrand from Bank of the Ozarks to Bank OZK signaled the institution's ambition to be recognized as a national player, not a regional Arkansas bank.
Routing number
Bank OZK's routing number is 082902757. The 082 prefix ties to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, which serves Arkansas-chartered banks. This applies to all Bank OZK deposit accounts, whether held at a branch in Little Rock or opened in connection with a commercial real estate transaction in New York. Find it in the online banking portal under account details, on the bottom-left corner of a check, or through customer service. For business accounts tied to construction loan disbursements, the routing number is included in the loan closing documentation and used for all draw-related ACH transactions.
The Gleason playbook
George Gleason has run Bank OZK for over four decades, making him one of the longest-tenured bank CEOs in the country. His approach to construction lending defies conventional wisdom: while most banks treat construction loans as high-risk and limit exposure, Gleason made construction and development lending the core of Bank OZK's commercial strategy. The bank routinely originates individual construction loans of $200 million to $500 million or more — loan sizes that would be significant even for banks ten times its size.
The key is underwriting discipline. Bank OZK lends at conservative loan-to-cost ratios, requires substantial equity from developers, and maintains rigorous project monitoring throughout construction. Its construction loan loss rates have been remarkably low through multiple real estate cycles — a track record that has earned the trust of developers who need a lending partner capable of executing large, complex transactions quickly.
Arkansas headquarters, coastal deal flow
Bank OZK's construction lending teams operate from offices in New York, Dallas, Los Angeles, and other major markets, sourcing and underwriting deals that bear no resemblance to the bank's Arkansas roots. A typical borrower is a sophisticated developer building a $300 million luxury residential tower — not a local contractor in Hot Springs. This works because construction lending is a relationship business driven by specialized expertise, not branch proximity. Developers choose their lender based on execution speed, certainty of closing, and willingness to hold large loan positions. Bank OZK has built a reputation for all three, which is why major developers in gateway cities repeatedly choose a bank from Little Rock over the money center institutions down the street.
Precision lending, precision banking
Bank OZK's success is built on doing one thing better than anyone else. Slash was built on the same philosophy — a business financial platform designed from the ground up rather than a generic bank that also does business tools. Corporate cards with real-time spend controls, automated receipt capture, and accounting integrations that give finance teams the operational visibility to manage cash flow with the same precision Bank OZK applies to construction risk.
