Former FNB president Piel leads new First Home branch

The bank’s new home 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 Piel, senior vice president of First Home’s Springfield loan production office, and former president of First National Bank.

The new First Home branch is First Home Savings’ 11th in southwest Missouri. The full-service bank will include 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.

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.”

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

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.

This story originally appeared in SBJ’s June 29 free e-news Daily Update. Click here to register.