Investar Bank Enters New Orleans-Area Market With Opening of Full-Service Metairie Branch

Dec 20 - Investar Bank, Baton Rouge, La., has entered the New Orleans-area market with high-touch, personal community-banking service through the opening of its first regional branch, an 8,300-square-foot full-service location at 500 Veterans Blvd. in Metairie.

The bank’s commitment to building a client-focused franchise in the region will be reinforced even further when Investar opens its second banking office tomorrow, this one on the northshore at 2929 Highway 190 in Mandeville.

Both locations provide consumer, small-business, mortgage and commercial banking.

“By strengthening our southeast Louisiana franchise, we’re able to introduce even more clients to the personalized service that is the hallmark of our locally owned, locally managed and locally staffed community bank,” said Stephen E. Wessel, the bank’s New Orleans regional president. “With our exceptionally strong capital, which is always reassuring to customers but is even more so during today’s economic challenges, we have the capacity to help small businesses grow and individuals and families prosper.”

Joining Wessel as chief lending officer is Kevin J. Dobson. Both are career bankers with extensive experience serving regional clients.

The Metairie branch of Investar Bank employs four bankers and features two drive-up lanes, a drive-up ATM, safe deposit boxes, parking for approximately nine client vehicles, three teller windows and private facilities for consultative client service. At Investar’s 4,000-square-foot Mandeville location, five associates serve clients with four drive-up lanes, one of which is dedicated to commercial clients; a drive-up ATM; safe deposit boxes; 11 parking spaces; four teller windows; and a consultative client-service area.

These openings expand Investar’s southeast Louisiana franchise to eight branches, with five others in Baton Rouge, Denham Springs, Port Allen and Prairieville and another, pending regulatory approval, in Lafayette, expected to open next year.

Investar Bank, which had total assets of $342 million at Sept. 30, 2012, provides comprehensive products and services for businesses and individuals. The bank is considered well-capitalized for regulatory purposes, with a Tier 1 Capital Ratio of 12.07 percent.