O'FALLON, Ill. — Midwest BankCentre has made its first foray into Illinois with a loan production office in O'Fallon.
The O'Fallon office has opened at 920 Talon Drive. Midwest BankCentre, the second largest community bank based in St. Louis with current assets of more than $2 billion and deposits of more than $1.5 billion, has 17 other locations in the in the city of St. Louis and in St. Louis, Jefferson and St. Charles counties in Missouri. It employs about 280 in total.
The O'Fallon loan production office, serving both commercial and mortgage loan customers, will be staffed by Alex Fennoy, executive vice president of community and economic development; Rebecca Walker, senior vice president of mortgage services; Franklin Shelton, vice president of community and economic development; Joseph Lochmann, senior loan officer; and Alisa Vaughn and Thomas Hensiek, mortgage originators. All live in the Metro East.
“Our strategic direction is rooted in ensuring all people in our region have access to mainstream banking and credit at competitive prices. This exciting expansion affirms our commitment to serving businesses, nonprofits, families and individuals living and working in the Metro East as we seek to expand our community impact,” said Orv Kimbrough, chairman and CEO of Midwest BankCentre.
In commercial lending, Midwest BankCentre made a concerted effort to issue Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans to small borrowers, and it paid off for the bank and for minority-owned businesses in poorer neighborhoods, as well as faith-based organizations and nonprofits.
It has processed more than 1,300 PPP loans totaling $200 million, and more than 1,000 of them — almost 80% — were in amounts of less than $150,000, with 99% approval. The small business borrowers employed an average of 20 workers.
