NEWS RELEASE                           HCB Bancshares, Inc.
                                       Contact: Cameron McKeel
                                       Phone: (870) 836-6841
                                       Fax: (870) 836-0433


                        FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
                        ---------------------

           CAMERON McKEEL PRESIDENT AND CEO OF HEARTLAND
                 LAMPKIN TO SERVE AS CHAIRMAN

    Three Senior Vice Presidents and Two Vice Presidents Named
    ----------------------------------------------------------


     CAMDEN, ARKANSAS (December 16, 1999)   The Board of
Directors has elected Cameron McKeel to the position of
President and CEO of HEARTLAND Community Bank and its parent
company, HCB Bancshares, Inc.  Vida H. Lampkin will continue to
serve as Chairman of the Board.

     Officers promoted to bank and holding company positions
were Paula Bergstrom, Senior Vice President - Administration and
Scott A. Swain, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial
Officer.  Officers promoted to HEARTLAND Community Bank
positions were Ernie Upton, Senior Vice President - Technology,
Linda Felton, Vice President - Training, and Glenda Wilkins,
Vice President - Human Resources.

     Lampkin has served HEARTLAND for forty-one years in various
positions, most recently as Chairman of the Board, President and
CEO.  She is a graduate of Bish Mathis Institute in Monroe,
Louisiana.  Lampkin serves as Chairman of the Arkansas League of
Savings Institutions, a member of the Governmental Affairs
Council of America's Community Bankers, and has served as
President and Board Member of the Camden Area Chamber of
Commerce.  She has been involved with the Economic Development
Strategic Planning Focus Group, Arkansas Community of Excellence
Committee for Camden, the Great Camden Clean-up, American Cancer
Society Relay for Life, and the March of Dimes Walk America.



     McKeel has thirty-nine years of banking experience and
served HEARTLAND Community Bank for the past three years as
Executive Vice President and member of the Board of Directors.
Prior to that, he served as Executive Vice President, Cashier,
and Controller with Arkansas State Bank in Clarksville,
Arkansas.  He is a graduate of Oklahoma State University,
Stillwater, Oklahoma; School for Bank Administration, Madison,
Wisconsin, Oklahoma Intermediate School of Banking, Stillwater,
Oklahoma; and the Graduate School of Banking, Madison,
Wisconsin.

     McKeel serves as President of Ouachita Area United Way and
as an Examiner for the Arkansas Quality Award Program.

     Bergstrom has served HEARTLAND for twenty-four years in a
variety of positions, most recently as Vice President -
Administration and Corporate Secretary for HEARTLAND Community
Bank and HCB Bancshares, Inc.  She attended Ouachita Baptist
University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas.  She is a member of
Cullendale First Baptist Church, Camden Fairview High School
PTO, Fairview Racquet Club, and a lifetime member of Whiteside
Elementary School PTA.  She currently serves as secretary of the
Camden Fairview High School PTO.

     Swain has served as Vice President and Chief Financial of
HEARTLAND since February 1999 and brings over fifteen years of
banking and financial experience to HEARTLAND.  His previous
experience includes serving as Vice President, Chief Financial
Officer, and Compliance Officer for Northwest Federal Savings
Bank in Spencer, Iowa.

     Swain is a graduate of Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa
with a Bachelors Degree in Finance.  Swain is a past member of
the Spencer Jaycees, Kiwanis Club, and the Board of Directors of
the Spencer Golf and Country Club.

     Upton came to HEARTLAND in 1998 as Vice President -
Technology and has thirty-eight years of banking and computer
experience.  Prior to that, he served as Senior Vice President
and Regional Manager of the Arkansas and Oklahoma area of Data
Center Incorporated (DCI).

     Upton is a graduate of Southern Nazarene University in
Bethany, Oklahoma and Oklahoma City University, Oklahoma City,
Oklahoma.  He is a member of Joplin, Arkansas United Methodist
Church and serves on the Finance Committee.

     Felton has served HEARTLAND as Director of Training for
the past two years and has nineteen years of banking experience.
Her previous experience includes serving as Branch Manager and
Consumer Loan Officer with First Commercial Bank in Little Rock,
Arkansas.

     Felton ia a graduate of Bryant High School and has
completed professional coursework including AIB General Banking
Diploma, Little Rock, Arkansas, ABA Management School,
Fayetteville, Arkansas, ABA General Banking School, Conway,
Arkansas and ABA Lending School, Jonesboro, Arkansas.  She is
scheduled to graduate from the Graduate School of Banking,
University of Colorado in Boulder, Colorado.

     She serves as Arkansas State President of Financial Women
International, faculty member of the American Institute of
Banking, member of Bryant Chamber of Commerce Ambassador
Committee and member of Indian Springs Baptist Church.

     Wilkins has twenty-three years of banking and
administrative experience and has served HEARTLAND as Director
of Human Resources for the past three years.  Prior to that, she
served as Director of Human Resources with Boatmen's National
Bank of Hot Springs.  She participated in the Camden March of
Dimes Annual Walk-a-thon and the American Cancer Society Relay



for Life.  She has been a member and served as Instructor with
the American Institute of Banking, a member of the American
Cancer Society, Special Olympics, Red Cross First Aid/Adult CPR
Instructor, Greater Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce Education
Committee, American Heart Association, and a volunteers or the
Museum of Hot Springs.

     HEARTLAND Community Bank is a $280 million group of
community banking offices headquartered in Camden.  Other
HEARTLAND offices are in Bryant, Fordyce, Monticello, and
Sheridan.