TUPELO, Miss., Oct. 7, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- BancorpSouth
Bank, subsidiary of BancorpSouth, Inc. (NYSE: BXS), has opened a
loan production office in the Houston,
Texas suburb city of Friendswood, providing a broader range of
financial services available to the Company's Houston metropolitan area clients.
BancorpSouth initially opened an office in temporary office
space just over five months ago in a Southwest Houston location. The office
recently moved to its new location at 699 S Friendswood Drive,
Suite 107. The move enhances BancorpSouth's reach to the
Pearland, Alvin, Clear Lake/Webster, League
City, and Galveston
markets, while assuring a continued ability to generate commercial
business from the Houston market
in general.
Friendswood is a progressive
suburban city conveniently located between downtown Houston and Galveston within the Houston metropolitan area and near three major
airports and deepwater ports.
BancorpSouth's Friendswood team
consists of a group of financial services industry veterans, and
includes Ruth Eklund, Senior Vice
President and commercial lender; Jennifer
Shaffer, Assistant Vice President, bank manager and lending
assistant; and Petra Soares,
customer service representative.
The BancorpSouth team is focusing on providing clients a broad
range of commercial and consumer banking services, including
commercial real estate, construction and residential
lending.
Ruth Eklund brings over 35
years of commercial banking experience to BancorpSouth with a
background as a banking center president, real estate lender and
compliance officer. She is a graduate of the ABA Compliance
School and has completed numerous other banking related
courses.
Jennifer Shaffer has over
23 years of banking experience as a branch manager and consumer
retail lender. She is a member of Pearland Chamber of Commerce, and serves on
finance-related committees at her church.
Petra Soares is an
experienced customer service representative and teller
supervisor. She earned a BA degree from the University of Bombay.
BancorpSouth Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Dan Rollins, commenting on the BancorpSouth
team's progress, said, "Ruth Eklund
and her teammates are off to a solid start closing nearly
$30 million in new loans."
Chris Bagley, BancorpSouth
President and Chief Operating Officer, added, "We are proud to have
such capable and experienced commercial bankers who know the
Houston metropolitan market so
well. Friendswood and the
surrounding area provide BancorpSouth with outstanding growth
opportunities."
Houston is the most populous
city in Texas and the fourth most
populous city in the United States. The Houston economy has a broad industrial base in
energy, manufacturing, aeronautics, and transportation. Only
New York City is home to more Fortune 500 headquarters.
The port of Houston ranks first
in the United States in
international waterborne tonnage handled and second in total cargo
tonnage handled. The city has a population from various
backgrounds and a large and growing international community.
BancorpSouth Bank currently operates 19 full-service banking
locations in East Texas with
almost $1billion in net loans and
more than $800 million in total
deposits.
BancorpSouth serves the Houston
metropolitan market area with commercial, P&C and life
insurance products and services through its Houston office of BancorpSouth Insurance
Services, Inc. At year-end 2013, BancorpSouth expanded its
insurance presence in the Houston
market through the acquisition of the assets of the Houston-based GEM Insurance Agencies,
LP. BancorpSouth Insurance Services, Inc. is one of the
largest bank-owned agencies in the country.
BancorpSouth recently opened a loan production office in
Sugar Land, Texas, an
award-winning community and regional employment center southwest of
Houston.
BancorpSouth, Inc. is a financial holding company headquartered
in Tupelo, Mississippi, with
approximately $13.0 billion in
assets. BancorpSouth Bank, a wholly-owned subsidiary of
BancorpSouth, Inc., operates approximately 300 commercial banking,
mortgage, and insurance locations in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee and Texas, including an insurance location in
Illinois.
SOURCE BancorpSouth, Inc.