BankFive's first lending office in Rhode Island located at 175 Sockanosset Cross Road, Cranston. Photo courtesy of BankFive

BankFive is planning to open two full-service branches on Cape Cod and in Rhode Island next year after it saw the success its loan offices had in the area.

“We’ve had a very successful loan production offices both in mortgage and in commercial loans in those communities. So we’re ready for that next step and opening deposits and having full branch in those areas,” Anne Tangen, BankFive President and CEO, said.

Tangen said the way the bank puts up retail branches is by establishing loan production offices first, and looking at those offices’ performance – for example, the bank’s new Westport mortgage lending team, which it recently hired away from Hometown Mortgage.

Connecticut-based Liberty Bank has pursued this strategy as well, deciding to put up its first retail branch in Massachusetts, in East Longmeadow, after the success of its loan production office.

The $1.7 billion-asset BankFive has 17 branches so far in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, mostly located in Bristol County.

Tangen said the bank is currently piloting video-enabled interactive teller machines (ITMs), and that the two new branches opening next year will include ITMs, along with “technology embedded in the way we service the customer.”

“There’s a high demand for customers that want convenience – the convenience of online tools, or online banking or having your phone with you,” she said. “We’re  constantly looking at that customer experience trying to make sure that it’s the best it can be, and that we’re meeting the customer the way they wanna be serviced.”