By Focus Staff

A local bank will soon open its new Fountain City location. SouthEast Bank will open its fourth Knox County location when the new branch at 4924 North Broadway opens the beginning of July. SouthEast Bank has been in the Knoxville market for more than six years and is headquartered in Farragut with other Knox County locations in Hardin Valley and Bearden. SouthEast Bank also has locations in Lenoir City, Cookeville, Chattanooga, Ooltewah, Athens, Cleveland, Dayton, Decatur and Spring City. SouthEast Bank was recently ranked number 58 in the top 200 community banks nationwide by the American Bankers Association.

SouthEast Bank President Monty Montgomery shared that the new Fountain City location was part of SouthEast’s growth plan. “We are excited to open this location in Fountain City. This new location allows us to expand our market presence and complements our existing Knoxville locations.”

Familiar Fountain City residents helped SouthEast in choosing the location. “We’re fortunate that we have Tommy Schumpert, John Mays and Leo Cooper on various boards and all have been champions for Fountain City,” said Montgomery. “They have praised Fountain City’s commitment to local businesses and felt that a locally-owned bank with a strong reputation to help local companies would be an asset.”

SouthEast Bank has a history of supporting education and local community. SouthEast Bank provides financial literacy education to local students at no cost to the schools or the taxpayer through the SouthEast Bank Financial Scholars program. The SouthEast Bank Financial Scholars program offers courses that bring a variety of financial topics to life such as credit scores, insurance, credit cards, student loans, mortgages, taxes, stocks, savings, and 401(k)s and other critical financial concepts. The program has impacted over 75 schools, including Central High School, since its beginning.

SouthEast Bank also recognizes the importance of education through its SouthEast Scholars program which has provided almost a million dollars in scholarship to students attending college in East Tennessee. Tommy Schumpert ran the SouthEast Bank Scholars program for the bank for several years.

“I enjoyed working with SouthEast Bank to help bright young people with the cost of higher education,” Schumpert said. “My hope is that they will remain in East Tennessee and become leaders in the local community in the future. By being involved in our scholarship program, I have experienced firsthand how scholarships have made it possible for many of the recipients to go to the college or university. Education is the key to have a strong community and led by outstanding leaders.”

Familiar Fountain City faces will staff the location. Cynthia “Cindy” Reeves will head up the team as branch manager. Cindy has spent the last 22 years of her career in Fountain City and is a member of the Fountain City Business and Professional Association. Joining Cindy will be Edward Weathers, Heather Edlin and Jena French. Eddie is the customer service representative for the branch. He lives in Fountain City, and all of his four children attend local schools. Heather Edlin is the head teller. Heather had been in banking 15 years with seven of those years in Fountain City. Jena French will assist Heather with teller duties.

SouthEast Bank offers a full suite of banking products, from checking accounts that pay CD-like rates along with high-interest savings accounts to competitive certificate of deposit rates to banking solutions for businesses. SouthEast Bank also offers personalized business services through its Treasury Management options, which allow companies to facilitate and improve routine financial processes. In addition, SouthEast Bank’s mortgage department can help turn houses into homes with competitive mortgage options. The bank also offers home equity options and mortgage refinancing.

SouthEast Bank offers student loan refinancing with its Education Loan Finance division. A student loan can be overwhelming, but Education Loan Finance (www.elfi.com) provides a state-of-the-art technology experience for refinancing and consolidating student loans. ELFI customers also receive personal loan advisors to guide them through the process, and ELFI’s rates are among the lowest in the industry.

SouthEast Bank is a member of FDIC and Equal Housing Lender. NMLS #537499