Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowLeaders of a small central Indiana town are trying to find a way to keep the community's only bank open.
Fort Wayne-based STAR Financial Bank plans to close its branch in Shirley on June 9, citing fewer customers doing business in-person with an increase in online banking. The bank says it will keep an ATM at the building with video capability for customers to speak with a live teller.
But Shirley Town Councilwoman Becky Perkins told the Daily Reporter of Greenfield that the bank is doing a disservice to customers in the 800-person community about 30 miles east of Indianapolis, on the border of Hancock and Henry County.
Perkins has started a petition for those living in Shirley and the nearby towns of Wilkinson and Kennard calling on the bank to change the decision. The three towns together have about 1,300 residents.
STAR Financial Group, the parent of the bank, operates 47 banking, financial planning or trust management offices in central and northeast Indiana. The company has more than $1.86 billion in assets. The company traces its banking roots in Shirley to 1957.
The branch's three employees will be offered positions at other locations, bank officials told the Daily Reporter.
Please enable JavaScript to view this content.