Business View Magazine | Volume 8, Issue 11

127 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 8, ISSUE 11 BANK OF ST . FRANC I SV I LLE gadget. It wasn’t necessarily to do with banking, but he always had something new,” Chaffin recalls. “When cell phones came out, we had to have them. He’s a big driver of where we are today.” “Without his influence, the Bank of St. Francisville wouldn’t be where it is today,” Lemoine adds. “He’s the person who got this thing going from the beginning. He was the one who pushed for technology. We owe a lot to Carter III for where we are. He is our leader.” Bank of St. Francisville continues to push the envelope to this day, even going so far as to expand outside of St. Francisville. Plans are in the works for the bank to open a new branch in Baton Rouge in the near future. “That’s the growth trend,” Chaffin explains. “Everything seems to be moving toward the Baton Rouge area. “Speaking to one of my loan officers the other day, he was saying he thinks we’ve probably penetrated 90 percent of the business here in town, and so unless we get new businesses – which we are – you can’t pick up more. So we are branching out.” With the new branch comes even more opportunity for technological advancements. “We have an office and a couple of guys down there in Baton Rouge, but we want them to look like they’re right here with us,” Chaffin explains. “So there’s a lot of technology that goes into that. We are trying to decide whether to go with the ITM – Intelligent Teller Machine, where it’s like an ATM but it’s got a live person available.” The expansion will also help the bank continue to serve the community and its customer base, says President and CEO Carter Leak IV. Already, they estimate that about $30 million of the bank’s $210 million in assets comes from the Baton Rouge area. He shares, “We want to grow and allow our employees to continue to grow in