Branson Bank assets top $100 million

The bank, wholly owned by Branson-based Branson Bancshares Inc., opened in March 2000 with $3.2 million in capitalization, said President Bill W. Jones.

“I cannot deny timing was really good,” Jones said. “We entered the market at the right time. Branson is really positioned so much better now to embrace the growth.”

Jones attributed local ownership as a reason for the bank’s growth.

“We have approximately 98 shareholders with half of those being local,” he said. “We continue to sell shares in the bank to local residents and hope to grow this number significantly over the years.”

Jones, who has been in the banking industry for 17 years, came to Branson from Mountain Home, Ark. He partnered in starting the bank with J.W. “Wes” Strange, an eight-year veteran of Branson banking who has a total of 47 years of banking experience.

Jones and Strange, Branson Bank’s CEO, sit on the community-based bank board, along with chairman Peter Peitz, Cotter, Ark.; Mike Bilbrey, Edwardsville, Ill.; John Dyess, Yellville, Ark.; Dean Harmon, Forsyth; Gary Jones, Yellville, Ark.; Gene Koehn, Branson; Mark Luebbert, Linn; and secretary and bank Vice President Cindy LeBlanc, Branson.

Future expansion

Forsyth is a target market for Branson Bank.

“We are actually seeking a couple of local directors and shareholders (in Forsyth),” Jones said.

The bank is building a $1.6 million, full-service bank in Forsyth on Missouri Highway 160 next to McDonald’s. Jones said the bank will open a temporary facility at that location in December. Tiedemann and Associates Inc. of St. Louis is contractor for the 5,000-square-foot facility, which is currently under excavation. Jones said subcontractors have not yet been named. The new bank is expected to open in early fall 2007.

The central facility for Branson Bank is at 1501 State Highway 248, with a second facility at 3285 Falls Parkway at the Falls Shopping Center. Earlier this year, the bank also moved its operations to a separate office at the Falls. “That’s helped and opened up a lot of space for us,” Jones said.

A fourth banking facility is planned for construction in 2008 in the Branson Hills development in north Branson.

Branson Bank, which employs about 40, recently added a courier service for picking up deposits as a complement to online banking, Jones said.

“We send the bank to them,” he said, noting that the courier service alleviates customers’ hassles of negotiating Branson’s traffic. “Customers can leave all their banking on their desktop without leaving their office. And in Branson, that matters.”[[In-content Ad]]