Merrillville-based Centier Bank has opened a loan-production office in Carmel to test the Indianapolis-area market before finalizing plans to add a retail branch here.
The four-person office is at 11611 Meridian St. The bank employed a similar approach in Lafayette, where it expanded a loan production office into a retail branch in 2010.
“Our dream would be to start with a loan-production office and eventually find some land where we could open up a whole retail center,” said Angela Jimenez, the bank’s assistant vice president of marketing.
David Bowers, a longtime Indiana banker, will lead the office as senior vice president of business banking and oversee commercial lending in the Indianapolis and Lafayette markets.
Centier has two other loan production offices in Fort Wayne and Mishawaka and 45 retail branches, primarily in northwestern Indiana. It holds $2.1 billion in assets.
Please enable JavaScript to view this content.