A Winsted-based community lender is eyeing its first new branch in over a decade.
Northwest Community Bank, a mutually owned savings bank with $416.2 million in assets, has asked for permission to establish a full-service branch at 741 Hopmeadow St. in Simsbury, according to a Dec. 3 news bulletin from its regulator, the state Department of Banking.
It would be Northwest’s third Hartford County full-service branch and its sixth overall. The bank has locations in Avon, Granby, New Hartford and Torrington, as well as a full-service retail office it opened back in 2006 at Winsted high school.
The bank would be entering a town containing nearly $617 million in bank deposits as of June 30, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., with market leaders including Bank of America and the former Simsbury Bank & Trust, which was acquired by Middletown-based Liberty Bank last month.
In a phone interview Wednesday afternoon, Northwest Community CEO Stephen Reilly said that deal helped seal Northwest’s decision to open a physical office in Simsbury, where it already has some resident customers who travel to its other locations.
“We see it as an opportunity whenever a hometown bank gets acquired,” Reilly said. “We’ve been looking at this market for a while.”
Northwest appears to be the first newcomer to apply to enter the Simsbury market after the Liberty Bank acquisition closed.
Reilly said the aim is to open the branch in July 2020.
This story has been updated to include comment from Northwest Community Bank’s president and CEO.