STRONGSVILLE, Ohio, Feb. 04, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cortland Bank, headquartered in Cortland, Ohio, has announced it will open its first branch in Strongsville on February 4. The announcement was made by James Gasior, president and CEO of the Bank.
The new branch at 14357 Pearl Road in Strongsville is the 15th location for the community bank which has been aggressively expanding to extend its footprint westward in Northeast Ohio. Cortland Bank currently has 14 offices throughout Summit, Trumbull, Mahoning, Portage and Ashtabula counties with the Strongsville branch representing the Bank’s third addition in the past four years and its farthest west location.
“Cortland Bank is following an aggressive growth strategy, successfully expanding into new zip codes within Northeast Ohio. This type of controlled growth has allowed us to build our deposit base and continue growing our loan portfolio while realizing greater cost efficiencies in order to return greater value to our stockholders,” said Gasior.
Within the past week, Cortland Bank reported record earnings for 2018, doubling its earnings from 2017.
According to Gasior, the key to the Bank’s success is its local roots. In Northeast Ohio, where the financial services industry is characterized by many large regional and national banks, Cortland Bank stands apart as a community bank with local decision-making authority and community-based officers.
“We empower our branch personnel to make the necessary financial decisions because, as local people themselves, they know the community and our customers the best,” said Gasior. “Local decision-making means faster turnaround on loans and other major financial decisions. In addition, as a community bank, we are committed to investing in our surrounding neighborhoods and strengthening our local economies.”
Cortland Bank’s Strongsville location will function as a full-service branch, providing a wide array of deposit and lending services.
“The Strongsville community has not had a community bank since 1999 when Strongsville Savings was acquired by Fifth Third Bank,” said Thomas Perciak, mayor of Strongsville and vice chairman of Cortland Bank’s board of directors. Perciak, who previously served as president and CEO of Strongsville Savings and has extensive knowledge of the local financial services sector, has been recognized as the primary driving force in Cortland Bank’s decision to open a branch in Strongsville. He added, “Cortland Bank has a proven track record of strategic organic growth, successfully opening branches in vibrant communities that don’t have a community bank by offering highly competitive financial products and superior customer service.”
Perciak noted that, although the physical branch is new, the reputation of Cortland Bank is already well known in the community since a number of Strongsville residents already own stock in the Bank.
A series of grand opening events is planned over the next few months to introduce the rest of the Strongsville community to Cortland Bank.
Cortland Bancorp stock trades on the OTCQX under the symbol of CLDB.
For more information, call 800-366-2334 or visit www.cortlandbank.com.
Contact:
Eileen Petridis
Falls Communications
(216) 696-0229
epetridis@fallscommunications.com