TUPELO, Miss., Aug. 21, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- BancorpSouth
Bank, subsidiary of BancorpSouth, Inc. (NYSE: BXS), has opened a
loan production office in Lake Charles,
Louisiana, expanding the Bank's footprint in Southwest
Louisiana. BancorpSouth's Lake
Charles office is located at 4660 Lake Street and provides
commercial, real estate construction, and residential mortgage
lending, together with a range of related banking
services.
Russell Pawlowski,
President of BancorpSouth's Lake
Charles market, is a veteran commercial banker having served
as a commercial loan officer in the Lake
Charles office of a national financial services company, and
most recently as a commercial banker for a local Lake Charles bank.
Don Morris, First Vice
President, is a Lake Charles
native and a McNeese State University
alumnus. He began his banking career in Houston, Texas, and most recently served with
a national financial services company in Lake Charles.
Tammy Murchison, senior
loan administration assistant, is also a Lake Charles native and a graduate of Sowela
Technical Community College, having previously served with two
other Southwest Louisiana
banks.
BancorpSouth Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Dan Rollins, commenting on the efforts of the
Lake Charles staff, said,
"Russell Pawlowski, Don Morris, and Tammy
Murchison are already off to a great start closing more than
$15 million in new loans, with
additional transactions approved pending closing."
Chris Bagley, BancorpSouth President
and Chief Operating Officer, added, "BancorpSouth's Lake Charles teammates are relationship
bankers who are passionate about serving their clients and
assisting with all of their financial needs. We are pleased
to have this outstanding team leading our efforts in this area of
Louisiana; a market with much
opportunity and potential in support of our Company's growth
goals."
BancorpSouth currently operates 22 full-service Louisiana banking locations with approximately
$920 million in net loans and
$911 million in total deposits.
The Bank currently serves 14 Louisiana markets, including
Shreveport/Bossier City, Monroe/West
Monroe/ Ruston/Rayville, Lafayette/New
Iberia/Broussard,
Baton Rouge/Prairieville/Denham
Springs, and Alexandria/Pineville.
BancorpSouth Insurance Services, Inc., one of the largest
agencies in the country, offers a wide range of insurance solutions
to its Louisiana clients from
offices in Alexandria,
Baton Rouge, Hammond, Lafayette, Lake
Charles, Metairie, and
Shreveport.
Contiguous to existing BancorpSouth markets, Lake Charles is located on the I-10 corridor
east of Houston and west of
BancorpSouth's Lafayette/Baton
Rouge markets and south of the Bank's Alexandria market.
Lake Charles and Southwest Louisiana feature an impressive and
diverse list of major corporations and small to medium size
businesses. The area's economy is based in oil & gas,
timber & agriculture, aviation, petro/chemical, manufacturing,
health care, maritime, ship building, sea food harvesting, tourism,
and gaming.
The area features world-class port facilities, including the
11th largest port in the nation and one of the longest
runways on the Gulf Coast with free-trade and enterprise zones. The
area's economy continues to experience upward trends with billions
of dollars in recent industrial announcements representing major
increases in employment estimates for the region, according to a
recent SWLA Economic Development Alliance economics and projects
report.
Home of McNeese State University and
Sowela Technical Community College, the Southwest Louisiana area features top rated
public schools providing a well educated and productive
workforce. Recognized for its quality of life, the region has
a total population of over 295,000 with a diverse culture, an
abundance of services, natural resources, and recreational
opportunities.
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.
SOURCE BancorpSouth, Inc.