BancorpSouth initially opened an office in temporary office space just over five months ago in a Southwest Houston location. The office recently moved to its new location at 699 S Friendswood Drive, Suite 107. The move enhances BancorpSouth’s reach to the Pearland, Alvin, Clear Lake/Webster, League City, and Galveston markets, while assuring a continued ability to generate commercial business from the Houston market in general.
Friendswood is a progressive suburban city conveniently located between downtown Houston and Galveston within the Houston metropolitan area and near three major airports and deepwater ports.
BancorpSouth’s Friendswood team consists of a group of financial services industry veterans, and includes Ruth Eklund, Senior Vice President and commercial lender; Jennifer Shaffer, Assistant Vice President, bank manager and lending assistant; and Petra Soares, customer service representative.
The BancorpSouth team is focusing on providing clients a broad range of commercial and consumer banking services, including commercial real estate, construction and residential lending.
Ruth Eklund brings over 35 years of commercial banking experience to BancorpSouth with a background as a banking center president, real estate lender and compliance officer. She is a graduate of the ABA Compliance School and has completed numerous other banking related courses.
Jennifer Shaffer has over 23 years of banking experience as a branch manager and consumer retail lender. She is a member of Pearland Chamber of Commerce, and serves on finance-related committees at her church.
Petra Soares is an experienced customer service representative and teller supervisor. She earned a BA degree from the University of Bombay.
BancorpSouth Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Dan Rollins, commenting on the BancorpSouth team’s progress, said, "Ruth Eklund and her teammates are off to a solid start closing nearly $30 million in new loans."
Chris Bagley, BancorpSouth President and Chief Operating Officer, added, "We are proud to have such capable and experienced commercial bankers who know the Houston metropolitan market so well. Friendswood and the surrounding area provide BancorpSouth with outstanding growth opportunities."
Houston is the most populous city in Texas and the fourth most populous city in the United States. The Houston economy has a broad industrial base in energy, manufacturing, aeronautics, and transportation. Only New York City is home to more Fortune 500 headquarters.
The port of Houston ranks first in the United States in international waterborne tonnage handled and second in total cargo tonnage handled. The city has a population from various backgrounds and a large and growing international community.
BancorpSouth Bank currently operates 19 full-service banking locations in East Texas with almost $1billion in net loans and more than $800 million in total deposits.
BancorpSouth serves the Houston metropolitan market area with commercial, P&C and life insurance products and services through its Houston office of BancorpSouth Insurance Services, Inc. At year-end 2013, BancorpSouth expanded its insurance presence in the Houston market through the acquisition of the assets of the Houston-based GEM Insurance Agencies, LP. BancorpSouth Insurance Services, Inc. is one of the largest bank-owned agencies in the country.
BancorpSouth recently opened a loan production office in Sugar Land, Texas, an award-winning community and regional employment center southwest of Houston.
BancorpSouth, Inc. is a financial holding company headquartered in Tupelo, Mississippi, with approximately $13.0 billion in assets. BancorpSouth Bank, a wholly-owned subsidiary of BancorpSouth, Inc., operates approximately 300 commercial banking, mortgage, and insurance locations in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee and Texas, including an insurance location in Illinois.
