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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowWesBanco Inc., a mid-sized bank based in Wheeling, West Virginia, is entering the Indianapolis market by opening a loan production office that will focus on both commercial and residential lending, the bank announced Monday.
Originally chartered as The German Bank in 1870, the company went through numerous mergers and acquisitions before adopting the WesBanco name in 1968. The bank has $16.9 billion in assets, with 205 branch locations in West Virginia, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
In comparison, WesBanco is slightly larger than Muncie-based First Merchants Corp., which has $15.5 billion in assets and 109 branch locations in Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and Illinois.
WesBanco’s presence in Indiana is small so far: It has nine branches in the southeastern part of the state, including in Floyds Knob, Jeffersonville, New Albany, Scottsburg and Sellersburg. The Indiana market accounts for 6% of the bank’s total loan portfolio and 5% of its total deposits.
“We have spent the past 150 years dedicated to nurturing relationships with our neighbors and local businesses, and look forward to doing the same in the Indianapolis area,” WesBanco President and CEO Todd Clossin said in a written statement.
WesBanco said it has set up a temporary office in the Carmel area while it looks for permanent space.
So far, WesBanco has hired two people to staff its Indianapolis loan production office. The senior commercial banker will be Michael McCulloch, who has nearly 25 years of banking experience and previously worked as vice president of commercial lending at Kokomo-based Community First Bank of Indiana and as vice president of corporate banking at Old National Bank.
Working with McCulloch will be Tony Thompson, who has 15 years in banking. Thompson previously worked in the Louisville market as middle market relationship manager for Cincinnati-based First Financial Bank.
WesBanco says it’s also looking to hire a residential sales manager who will oversee building a mortgage lending team in the Indianapolis market.
WesBanco is not the only out-of-town bank eyeing opportunities in the Indianapolis market. Earlier this year, Jasper-based German American Bank announced its plans to open a loan production office in Greenwood. The bank told IBJ on Monday that it has not yet identified a location for that office.
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