FSGBank expands in Hixson

FSGBank plans to open its 41st branch early next year at Highway 153 and Hamill Road — its eighth location in the Chattanooga market.

“The northern part of the county is where we were missing,” said Terry Todd, the Chattanooga-based bank’s regional president. “We were wanting to get there because we’ve had customers ask us, ‘When are you coming to 153 in Hixson?’ Well, we’re coming.”

Gina M. Crumbliss was named vice president and manager of the branch in July. Mrs. Crumbliss, a Chattanooga native, previously worked for Bank of America. She has about 10 years experience in banking, he said.

“She will be building our team to expand in the northern part of the county,” Mr. Todd said.

The branch was designed by Judy Holley, wife of Rodger Holley, chief executive of FSGBank’s parent company, First Security Group Inc.

Mrs. Holley manages the bank’s facilities and has designed many Pioneer and FSGBank branches.

She estimated the cost to build the 2,500-square-foot Hixson branch to be about $450,000. FSGBank bought the 1-acre corner property in June for $1 million.

The new branch will employ four or five people and will have an on-site mortgage originator.

Coming from a bank with a national presence like Bank of America, Mrs. Crumbliss said the transition to FSGBank has been a good one.

“We are a small community bank, but we have the same products as a large, regional bank,” she said. “When you pick up the phone and call someone, they are in the same city you are.”

The Chattanooga-based company has bank offices in Knoxville, Sweetwater, and Cookeville in Tennessee and Dalton, Ga., as well as local branches in Cleveland and Ringgold, Ga. The bank’s parent company now employs almost 300 people.

Mr. Holley said the company is in a growth mode and considering more branches in the future.

“We’re still looking around locally for some more expansion,” said Mr. Holley. “We really haven’t decided on anything, I think further out on 153 might be a place of interest. We’ve got a branch out in Ooltewah already, but up and down that corridor, we’d be interested in other locations.”