Springfield First Community Bank receives state charter

Springfield First Community Bank has been chartered by the Missouri Division of Finance, and construction on its South Glenstone Avenue headquarters should start in mid-November.

Bank executives Brian Straughan, Jan Baumgartner and Kirk Bossert filed the charter application in late May after raising more than $22 million in startup capital from 71 shareholders to form Springfield Bancshares Inc., the bank's holding company. Baumgartner said they were notified the morning of Sept. 23 that the charter had been approved.

"Brian and I called all of our shareholders," she said. "We, of course, wanted them to hear it from us rather than on the street."

Straughan, Springfield First's president and CEO, said the four-month turnaround time for charter approval was relatively quick given the size of the application - it weighed 56 pounds - and the number of government regulatory agencies involved. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., Federal Reserve and U.S. Department of Justice reviewed the application in addition to the state Division of Finance.

"They had an appreciation for the strength of our management team, the strength of the shareholders themselves, and the amount of capital we were fortunate enough to raise," he said. "I think all of those things spoke volumes."

Bank's foundation

Earlier this year, Straughan, Bossert and Baumgartner left their jobs with BancorpSouth, the Tupelo, Miss.-based institution that entered Springfield last year through a $170 million merger with The Signature Bank, a community bank formed in 1997. All six members of Springfield First's management team have ties to The Signature Bank.

Straughan was president of BancorpSouth's East Sunshine Street branch for more than seven years, and was previously vice president of commercial lending at Commerce Bank.

Baumgartner, executive vice president at Springfield First, also worked at Commerce before a seven-year stint managing BancorpSouth's treasury division.

Bossert, a certified public accountant and the bank's chief financial officer, helped organize The Signature Bank and has 22 years of banking experience.

Former Signature Bank employees DeAnn Floyd, Amy Kiefer and Nick Spinelli round out the bank's management team.

The team has hired 15 employees to run the bank from two temporary trailers- - one for normal bank operations and another for the lending department - on a vacant, 2.6-acre lot at 2006 S. Glenstone Ave.

The bank purchased the site of the former Merigold Inn for $2 million and demolished the motel to make room for its main branch - a 16,000-square-foot, two-story structure designed by Rob Haik, principal architect at H Design Group LLC.

Eoff & Associates is the project's general contractor, and construction is expected to last about a year.

Straughan said 11 million pounds of concrete recovered from the building demolition will be reused for the bank's foundation.

Opening day

The first day of business for Springfield First will be Friday, Oct. 17, provided all of the remaining pieces fall into place as planned.

Bossert said the bank has received its long-awaited routing transit number, which will allow management to test software installed by Monett-based Jack Henry & Associates and its ability to communicate with other service providers.

"It is a Jack Henry data center bank, so the systems aren't in-house," he added.

The final hurdle for Springfield First will be a three-day, pre-opening examination by the Division of Finance.

"It will finish the day before we're scheduled to open," Straughan said. "It's a thorough check of policies, security, information systems, technology, forms, stamps."

The bank's temporary location will feature a drive-through and an ATM. Springfield First also will offer Internet banking as well as cash management services for business customers.

"We feel like there's a lot of pent-up demand," Straughan said. "We're very optimistic we'll come out of the gate quickly."

Springfield First's organizers - a group that includes board members Charlie O'Reilly of the O'Reilly Automotive family and Realtor Larry Lipscomb - have placed a high priority on keeping the bank locally owned and operated. Their goal is to grow the bank's assets to $200 million in three years and keep it at that size.

"We need to click along at $25 million a quarter," Bossert said. "I think once you can get up to the first $100 million, you've reached a real critical mass."[[In-content Ad]]