A handshake, extended. A familiar voice on the phone. A commitment to service. Since 1978, Bank of St. Francisville has demonstrated its abiding belief that relationships are paramount by welcoming customers with one-on-one personalized service in St. Francisville, and more recently, in Baton Rouge. Now, a state-of-the-art location about to break ground in the Capital City will extend the bank’s ability to deliver relationship-based financial services to a wider community of regional customers.
“We’ve grown significantly in the last decade, and we’re excited to support south Louisiana with this new facility that will make our customers feel like family” said Bank of St. Francisville President and CEO Carter Leak IV. “Having a location on both sides of I-10 in this important market was a key consideration as we evaluated how to help our community prosper.”
Situated in the heart of the Capital City, the planned 10,000-square-foot branch is to be built on a 1.74-acre parcel on Jefferson Highway. Inspired by classic south Louisiana architecture to embody the best of Louisiana elegance and charm, the new facility is being designed and built by some of the best names in the business.
It will also place the bank’s commitment to service within reach for more Louisiana businesses.
“We’ve always embraced one-on-one, face-to-face service and this branch fosters that commitment.” - Douglas Dupont, Baton Rouge Market President
“The new location will allow us to centralize our Baton Rouge management team, including our commercial lending leadership to collaborate and best serve the greater Baton Rouge market,” said Carter.
It's an exciting step in Bank of St. Francisville’s long journey. Chartered 46 years ago, the bank commenced operations in a small trailer, before transitioning to its longtime headquarters on Commerce Street in downtown St. Francisville. On that site, the bank has grown and flourished, providing a refreshing combination of efficiency, technology and old-school service that has served generations of local residents and small businesses while attracting more and more new customers, too. During the last decade, BSF’s assets have grown by about 300%, and by 200% over the last five years. Things aren’t slowing down, either.
The new location isn’t just about expanding the bank’s footprint, though. It’s about creating a physical manifestation of Bank of St. Francisville’s exceptional style of service, which embodies a spirit of hospitality that Carter describes as feeling “like walking into your home.”
Generations of customers recognize they can find all the online features that modern banking demands. But they also know that picking up the phone to talk to a Bank of St. Francisville employee personally is the norm, not the exception. The new branch will further the bank’s ability to strengthen existing relationships and forge new ones, says Baton Rouge Market President Douglas Dupont.
“We’ve always embraced one-on-one, face-to-face service and this branch fosters that commitment,” Douglas said. “We’re focused on meeting our customers’ needs with great products and favorable rates, while delivering personal service that goes way beyond the larger banks.”
With the help of Cockfield Jackson Architects, Cangelosi-Ward General Contractors and Kenneth Brown Design, the new branch will offer a landmark design created to deliver aesthetic beauty and 21st century convenience on a regional scale.
“This is a big project, and the magnitude of it has been about delivering a banking relationship that is different from what is currently out there,” Douglas said. “While larger banks are pushing customers towards a more digital relationship and attempting to reduce foot traffic in their branches, we are doing the opposite. We would like to encourage our customers to embrace more personal interactions with our bank. Our effort is to build a location that makes customers feel welcome, because this helps us to deepen our understanding of their needs, and ultimately, to provide a better banking experience.”
