Bank of Walpole was scheduled to open a new branch in Rindge on Monday, in the former GFA Credit Union on Sonja Drive. This is the bank’s seventh branch in the Monadnock region.

Savings Bank of Walpole purchased the building and began renovations last year. The branch will include five new full-time positions.

“This isn’t just a pin in the map to us,” said Savings Bank of Walpole President Mark Bodin. “All of our locations are in the Monadnock region. When we come into a community, we don’t want to be just another business – we want to be part of the community.”

Savings Bank of Walpole’s six other locations are in Keene, Walpole and Winchester. The bank was first chartered in 1875 in Walpole, opening a second branch in Walpole in 1892. The company opened its first Keene branch in 1992, and now has three branches in that city, and opened a new branch in Winchester just last year.

Involvement in the communities where they have locations is a part of the culture at Savings Bank of Walpole, Bodin said. Across all Savings Bank of Walpole locations, about 40 percent of the staff participate in at least one local board, and comprise between 75 and 80 board slots across the region.

Bodin said one of the biggest attractions of using a small, regional bank is that the money invested with the bank stays in the region, through loans and mortgages to local residents and businesses.

“When people bank with large, national banks, they don’t know where they’re money is going,” he said. “I think that’s part of what we offer – we are based in the community, and we like to say we bank with our neighbors.”

Rindge Branch Manager Eric Schlim said the branch will be full-service, and include free accounts with no service charges or minimum balances, support for mobile and online banking and support for mobile payment services such as Apple Pay.

For those that come into the branch location, there will be a drive-through window and ATM and a coin-counting machine. Inside, members have access to a community financial adviser available once a week, who will be available for community consultations, and a community room available to local organizations that need meeting space.

The bank will also have a mortgage loan officer based in Rindge, and access to wealth management and other financial services through the bank’s sister company NHTrust.

Roy Graves will serve as the mortgage loan officer in Rindge. Graves, a resident of Fitzwilliam, has over 20 years of community banking experience, having started as a part-time teller and working his way to branch management and consumer and mortgage lending.

The bank plans to hold official grand opening festivities on the week of April 3.

For information, visit walpolebank.com.

Ashley Saari can be reached at 603-924-7172, Ext. 244, or asaari@ledgertranscript.com.

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