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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowMercantile Bancorp Inc., a Quincy, Ill., holding company with locations in four states, plans to open a loan-production office in Carmel as the bank’s entry into Indiana.
Headed by former First Indiana Bank Vice President Kevin Murphy, the office will focus on business loans of $5 million to $15 million.
Mercantile CEO Ted Awerkamp said Mercantile was considering chartering a bank in Carmel until Mercantile acquired banks in Florida and Missouri and focused its resources on integrating them. Thus, the $15 million needed to launch a charter didn’t make financial sense.
The decision to opt for a loan office also was made before a friend introduced Awerkamp to Murphy, which would have given the bank a leader to launch a charter.
“To extend capital and establish a brand new charter in a market that we didn’t have a banker in hand or in mind, that was just a risk profile we didn’t think made sense,” Awerkamp said.
Mercantile holds minority investments in 10 community banks in seven states outside Illinois, but not in Indiana.
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