Former FNB president leads new First Home branch

The bank will be located in a 3,000-square-foot building at 2655 S. Campbell that formerly housed The Signature Bank, which closed May 15 to consolidate services at its other Campbell Avenue branch.

“It’s in really nice shape – we will touch up paint, and we bought all their furniture and pictures on the walls,” said Eric Piel, who will serve as community bank president when the new location opens. “We put our phones and computers in there, and we’re about ready to go. It’s a nice deal.”

Piel currently is senior vice president of lending at First Home’s loan production office in Springfield; he previously served as president of First National Bank.

The full-service bank will open for business July 17, marking the 11th branch for First Home Savings in southwest Missouri. It will have a four-lane drive-through and an automated teller machine.

First Home Savings on June 15 took over the building’s lease with ENM Edgewood LLC.

Initially, Piel will lead a team of seven other employees, including Tina Bryant, branch operations manager, and Nick Raikos, assistant vice president/lending.

Piel said adding a full-service Springfield branch was a natural extension for the bank, as its other locations all are in the region.

“Springfield is such a strong market, and we were all around Springfield and southwest Missouri,” he said. “It was just a logical move for us.”

First Home Savings Bank is a wholly owned subsidiary of Mountain Grove-based First Bancshares Inc. and had assets of $242 million as of June 2005.