Banking & Finance

Queensborough National Bank & Trust Company is settling into its first retail branch in the Savannah market at 216 West U.S. Highway 80, and it has celebrated its move with a series of  parties and lunches for customers over the past two weeks.
The full-service facility is being managed by Senior Vice President Mike English, while the mortgage division is headed by Bryant Easterling and commercial lending is headed by Carol Brooks. 
The branch is the bank’s 12th location in Georgia, after also opening a new branch in West Augusta in May.
Queensborough previously had a mortgage and loan origination office on Savannah’s Southside. The new office will also service customers in Bryan and Effingham counties, according to English.
It’s a banking company with a long and rich Georgia history, founded in 1902 in Louisville, where the banking company is still headquartered. Until late 2005, the bank had operated as First National Bank and Trust Company but changed to the Queensborough brand, the name of its holding company, as the bank expanded across Georgia and ran into too many similar bank names. 
As of March 31, 2009, according to the bank’s most recent available financial information, total assets have grown 8.2 percent in the last year over March 31, 2008.  Total deposits at March 31, 2009 were $734.4 million versus $674.6 million at March 31, 2008, up 8.9 percent.
The bank reported 1st Qtr. 2009 income earned, not collected on loans, as a profit of $7,117,000  versus $7,433,000 in the quarter ended March 31, 2008.
As to the history of the name “Queensborough,” it is the name of one of the original townships established by Irish immigrants during the mid-1700s in Jefferson County. “The Irishmen started the town on the edge of the Ogeechee River, just south of present day Louisville. We chose the name in tribute to the wonderful history of Jefferson County and the surrounding areas,” according to the company.
The American Bankers Association has recognized Queensborough National Bank & Trust  as one of the Top 50 community banks in the United States.
The U.S. Hwy 80 branch will offer full retail banking services for businesses in the area as well as consumers, residential construction lending, commercial/consumer and mortgage lending, according to English.
In 2008, QNB&T invested in remote deposit capture, truncation and image exchange between bank branches and commercial sites, which allowed the bank to eliminate the expense of maintaining large sorters.
The system also allows for connectivity to the Federal Reserve and the Endpoint Exchange Network for nationwide check image exchange, which allows QNB&T to exchange check images rather than paper checks for clearing and settlement.
Image exchange has improved next-day availability to almost 100 percent, and QNB&T consistently meets the Fed's earliest cutoff deadline for outgoing cash letters. Each month, QNB&T reduces its per-item costs as more electronic receivers of check images come on-line with the Fed and Endpoint Exchange, the bank announced last year.
QNB&T received $12,000,000 in TARP funds last year, one of the lowest levels of any Georgia banking company tapping into the federal funds.