SPRINGFIELD, Mo., May 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Great Southern Bank, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Great Southern Bancorp , will open its first retail banking center in the St. Louis metropolitan area on Monday, May 11, 2009. The banking center is located in Creve Coeur, Mo., at 12500 Olive Blvd. and will serve customers six days a week.
The 4,400 sq. ft. banking center features a full-service lobby, offices, safe deposit boxes, teller area, drive-thru lanes and drive-up ATM.
"We are excited to open our first banking center in Creve Coeur and look forward to the opportunity of building relationships with new customers," said Great Southern President and CEO Joseph W. Turner. "We have put together an exceptional team of associates who know the market and have a deep commitment to service excellence. This team combined with our convenience and broad range of products will prove to be a winning combination in serving customers."
Regional Banking Center Manager Mary Dunavant, a nineteen-year banking veteran, will lead an experienced team of five bank associates. This new location complements a Great Southern loan production office in Creve Coeur, which was opened in January 2005 and managed by Commercial Lending Regional Manager Kevin Baker. Great Southern Travel, a subsidiary of Great Southern Bank, also operates two travel agencies in the St. Louis market - one in Creve Coeur and one in St. Peter's.
The bank's hours of operation are: Lobby: 8:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.; Monday - Friday 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.; Saturday Drive-Thru: 8:30 a.m. - 6:30 p.m.; Monday - Friday 9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.; Saturday
Turner added, "Great Southern is well-known for its convenience. As an added benefit for our customers in Creve Coeur, customer deposits and other transactions that are made by 6:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, will be credited or posted on the same business day."
A grand opening celebration is scheduled for the week of May 26, 2009. Festivities will occur throughout the week, with a ribbon cutting on May 28, 2009, hosted by Turner and Mayor Dielmann.
Headquartered in Springfield, Mo., Great Southern offers banking, investment, insurance and travel services. Great Southern operates 56 retail banking centers and 200 ATMs in Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska. The company also serves lending needs through loan production offices in Overland Park, Kan., Rogers, Ark., and St. Louis. With $3.4 billion in assets, Great Southern Bancorp is a public company and its common stock (ticker: GSBC) is listed on the NASDAQ Global Select stock exchange. http://www.greatsouthernbank.com/
When used in this press release the words or phrases "will likely result," "are expected to," "will continue," "is anticipated," "estimate," "project," "intends" or similar expressions are intended to identify "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, including, among other things, changes in economic conditions in Great Southern Bancorp's ("Company") market area, changes in policies by regulatory agencies, fluctuations in interest rates, the credit risks of lending activities, including changes in the level and direction of loan delinquencies and write-offs and changes in estimates of the adequacy of the allowance for loan losses, the Company's ability to access cost-effective funding, demand for loans and deposits in the Company's market area and competition, that could cause actual results to differ materially from historical earnings and those presently anticipated or projected. The Company wishes to advise readers that the factors listed above could affect the Company's financial performance and could cause the Company's actual results for future periods to differ materially from any opinions or statements expressed with respect to future periods in any current statements.
The Company does not undertake - and specifically declines any obligation - to publicly release the result of any revisions which may be made to any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of such statements or to reflect the occurrence of anticipated or unanticipated events.
Great Southern Bank
CONTACT: Kelly Polonus of Great Southern Bank, +1-417-895-5242,
kpolonus@greatsouthernbank.com
Web Site: http://www.greatsouthernbank.com/
