MainSource Bank has announced that it will close its East Enterprise branch effective at the close of business on Friday, April 26th.
Letters were sent out to customers by the bank at the end of last week, and the news has shocked members of the community, where the bank shares a building with the East Enterprise Post Office at the corner of State Roads 250 and 56.
In the letter to its customers, Daryl R. Tressler, President and Chief Executive Officer of MainSource Bank, said that the move was the result of the bank’s analysis in an effort to: “…Improve efficiency and optimize operational resources.”
“Based on our analysis, we have made the decision to close our East Enterprise banking center located at 13008 N. State Road 56 in East Enterprise, Indiana, as of the close of business on April 26, 2012,” the letter states. “…We sincerely thank you for your business through the years and we look forward to serving your financial needs at one of our other locations.”
The letter tells customers that after the bank is closed, all of the current accounts will remain in effect, and that the ATM machine that is currently located at the site. Customers were also told that they may do their banking either in Vevay or Rising Sun, on online.
“We do plan to keep the ATM there and maintain that to provide customers with the ability to transact their business and get some cash,” Daryl Tressler said.
The announced closing brings to an end, at least temporarily, a long standing tradition of a bank being located in East Enterprise.
The Bank of East Enterprise was first established at the site in 1909, and then became the East Enterprise State Bank in 1934. From there, the bank became a branch of Vevay Deposit Bank in the mid 1970s, and then a part of the First Financial Bank system when that Cincinnati-based bank bought Vevay Deposit Bank in 1997.
MainSource Bank bought out First Financial Bank in June of 2006, and the bank branch has continued to operate since that time.
Currently there are three employees at the bank, and Daryl Tressler said that it is the hope of the bank that positions will open up between now and the April closing at one of the remaining branches that will allow all of the employees to transfer.
“I think the overriding thing that I would want to express is that closing a branch is a difficult decision, because it affects customers as well as employees,” Daryl Tressler said. “It’s really a business decision regarding the branch. It’s a branch that has not grown over the last several years and we have two other branches in very close proximity; one in the same county and one in the adjacent county – Vevay and Rising Sun – and it just came down to purely a business decision to close the East Enterprise branch.”
MainSource Bank does own the building, but Daryl Tressler said that at this point the bank hasn’t given any thought to what it might do with the bank in the future.
“That’s something that we’ll pursue and consider between now and April 26th,” he said.