Happy State

Founded in 1908 as First State Bank, Happy, Texas, the bank operated solely in that community during its first 81 years. In 1990, Chairman J. Pat Hickman led a group of investors in forming Happy Bancshares, Inc. as they purchased the bank. The generically named First State Bank changed its name to the unforgettable Happy State Bank in 2004.

In 1990, the bank had six employees overseeing just over $10 million in total assets. Out of the 880 banks in Texas, Happy ranked #812 in asset size. Today, Happy has close to 1,000 employees and over 60 locations in more than 40 communities across the Texas Panhandle, South Plains, Austin, Central Texas and the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. With assets exceeding $6 billion, Happy State Bank ranks in the top 20 of nearly 500 banks doing business in Texas.

For more than a dozen consecutive quarters, BauerFinancial, Inc. has recognized Happy for its capital strength, loan quality and profitability, and S&P recently ranked Happy #41 among banks $3-10 billion in assets. Based on employee feedback, American Banker has named Happy one of the Best Banks to Work For in the USA the last seven years in a row.

Happy has also been recognized in several national and state-wide publications for its unique corporate culture and has won many awards and recognition (including from the United States Treasury Department) for financial literacy training via its Kids Bank program, now in over 30 elementary schools. The bank received the Torch Award from the Better Business Bureau for its outstanding ethical business standards, and known as a top-notch corporate citizen, Happy has been named, through local newspaper polls, as the BEST BANK in several of the communities it serves.