In Photo: BankFive's Westport Mortgage Lending Team Members (L-R) Jeff DeFusco, Janice Camara, Peter DeFusco, Jessica Oliver and Miguel DeSousa.

Fall River-based community bank BankFive has added a new five-member team of loan officers previously with Hometown Mortgage, expanding the bank’s mortgage lending presence in the South Coast.

“In a challenging housing market, we are thrilled to welcome this experienced mortgage lending team to the BankFive family, and to expand our footprint and services further across Southeastern Massachusetts,” BankFive President and CEO Anne P. Tangen said in a statement. “With 60 plus years of combined mortgage experience, this new team will help us deepen relationships with our existing customers and forge new relationships with future customers.”

Tangen said in a separate phone interview the bank attracted the five-person team – previously all from Hometown Mortgage – through the banking and community relationships of Bank Five’s mortgage department.

“Very often, when they were doing mortgages previously, they [the Westport team] are collecting bank statements and they kept seeing Bank Five bank statements. So they knew those are Bank Five customers and we have solid relationships in the area,” Tangen said. “We also make sure we’ve got competitive products. So I think that entices people to come work for us.”

The team will be located in BankFive’s new Westport lending office at 875 State Road, Westport.

“The team is located right in our footprint. They bridge the gap between Fall River and New Bedford, Westport and Dartmouth, and sit right between the two. We already have a branch in Dartmouth, so the Westport team gives us an opportunity to have a Westport presence, and maybe that will be our next opening spot for a branch,” Tangen said.

The Westport team members are:

• Peter DeFusco, now a vice president and sales manager at BankFive. He has 26 years of banking and lending experience, most recently working as a regional director for Hometown Mortgage.
• Jeffrey DeFusco, now a vice president and mortgage loan officer. Previously an area director for Hometown Mortgage, he has 22 years of experience as a mortgage loan officer.
• Miguel DeSousa, now a mortgage loan officer. He has 20 years of mortgage experience and was a former area director at Hometown Mortgage prior to BankFive.
• Jessica Oliver, now a mortgage loan officer. She previously was a mortgage loan officer at Hometown Mortgage, with 15 years of lending experience.
• Janice Camara, now a new mortgage loan officer assistant. She has more than 35 years of total banking experience, 18 years in lending, previously working at Hometown Mortgage and Bank of America.

The $1.7 billion-asset BankFive has 17 branches, mostly in Bristol County.