KS Bank is expanding its community-focused brand of banking to Lillington, and it doesn’t plan to stop there. The 102-year-old bank has experienced a surge in growth over the past few years. This growth has included several developments within the GFBJ footprint. In 2023, KS Bank opened a full-service branch in Dunn, N.C. Now, the Lillington branch is getting ready to serve customers, and KS Bank leadership confirmed efforts are underway to bring KS Bank to Roseboro as well.

“The Lillington community, as well as Roseboro, as well as Dunn, is made up primarily of small business owners [and] entrepreneurs, and we’re a small business bank. We also can serve larger companies. We can serve retail [and] family households as well, but primarily we are a small business bank, and so when we’re thinking about expansion, we’re primarily looking at markets where small business is the driver for those communities. And so we’re not necessarily looking at markets that are oversaturated with large corporate businesses in that market. We’re looking more at local hometown entrepreneurs. Both Lillington and Roseboro, as well as Dunn in Harnett County, all fit that mold,” shared Chief Administrative Officer, EVP, Travis B. Bailey. 

The Lillington branch is the bank’s 12th location. KS Bank’s expansion into Lillington was orchestrated by Harnett County native Commercial Relationship Manager, SVP, Mark Eason, and Bailey, who also grew up in Harnett County

“Lillington, for example, being raised on that side of Harnett County and growing up in this market, we have a lot of contacts with business owners that are just looking for that community bank feel; they’re not looking to deal with a large regional or a large commercial bank. They want a hometown community bank feel, and we could offer that,” shared Bailey.

The new Lillington branch, located at 709 W. Front St., will feature in-branch and drive-thru teller services, 24- hour ATM access and digital banking platforms, including online banking and the KS Bank mobile app. With renovations to the facility now complete, the bank officially opened to the public on Aug. 10. KS Bank held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the grand opening of the Lillington branch on Thursday, Aug. 13 at 10 a.m. 

Plans for the Roseboro branch have not been finalized, but both the bank and the town have expressed interest in bringing KS Bank to the community.

“We’re very excited about the market. We’re working with the mayor and town dignitaries to be able to work through this expansion plan, as well as 10 to 15 local entrepreneurs that are looking to try and do what’s right for their community, which is bringing a bank back to Roseboro,” shared Bailey. 

Both Truist Bank and First Citizens Bank closed their locations in Roseboro, leaving the town without a local bank. 

“I’ve been doing this for going on 22-23 years, and I have never seen a community rallied around bringing a bank to their town more so than I have in Roseboro,” shared Bailey. “Everyone is extremely excited about the potential there. But we’re still working through the logistics.” 

Since its inception in 1924, KS Bank has been an eager supporter of the people in the communities it serves. The bank looks forward to further strengthening its relationships and expanding its positive impact as a trusted financial partner for years to come. 

“KS Bank… our sole purpose is to be able to serve our community… our internal culture here with our employees is branded to the point of taking care of our markets to taking care of our customer, and so kind of over 100 years, Lillington will be our 12th office, and so we’ve not grown to 50 plus offices over that 100 year period of time because we’ve been very focused on each and every one of those communities that we’ve served, and the expansion over the last couple of years has been a little more robust. With the announcement of building a new office in Wendell, there was a recent announcement about us building our new operations center over in Four Oaks, and so we’re excited about that…there’s just a lot of momentum around the bank right now,” shared Bailey. 

Small businesses are the backbone of a community. KS Bank intends to continue fostering these relationships with small businesses so that they can promote local growth and support their customers.