For the first time in years, Mutual Savings Bank is coming back to Greenwood.
The Johnson County-based bank has announced a new branch will open in mid-April. This will be Mutual Savings’ sixth branch, joining three existing locations in Franklin as well as branches in Nineveh and Trafalgar.
The move is an opportunity for Mutual Savings Bank to spread its vision of local, community-focused banking to an area where its customers already are, said David Coffey, president and CEO of the bank.
"Being a community bank, we felt the timing was right to make a move in that area," "It’s an opportunity for us to take true community banking to our friends in the Greenwood area. We have customers up there who we’ve had relationships with for years, whether it’s loans or whatever, but we felt that Greenwood was right for community banking."
The new branch, led by bank manager Amber Pittman, will be located at 2020 S. SR 135 in Greenwood. The location will offer mortgages, commercial loans, checking and savings accounts and more, though it will not feature an ATM or a drive-through window, Coffey said.
Bank officials envision this site as a temporary location as Mutual Savings searches for a more permanent home in Greenwood, Coffey said.
"This gives us an opportunity to get up there and open our doors," he said. "We thought, we don’t want to wait, we want to get up there, so this is what we’re doing."
Mutual Savings Bank has been a part of the Johnson County banking community for more than 125 years, having been founded in Franklin in 1890. For many years, it featured a Greenwood branch at the corner of Fairview Road and State Road 135.
"Things were OK there, but we thought we could utilized those monies for our North Main Street branch here in Franklin. But we’re trying to take community banking and do that as good as we can, and we think Greenwood is the next logical step," Coffey said.
