Savings Bank of Walpole expanding with new Keene office

May 15—Savings Bank of Walpole is adding an administrative office in Keene in a move the bank says will create 10 new jobs, it announced Wednesday.

The bank, which has branches in Keene and Walpole, expects to open the new space on Kit Street — adjacent to Filtrine Manufacturing's headquarters — in mid-June, the bank said in a news release.

The 5,000-square-foot office will house SBW's Customer Resource Center, which it stated is growing to "meet the needs" of Meredith Village Savings Bank and Merrimack County Savings Bank. All three banks are affiliates of N.H. Mutual Bancorp, a mutual holding company that offers operational support to its subsidiaries.

SBW's Customer Resource Center currently comprises 12 employees at the bank's Marlboro Street branch in Keene, which company President Mark Bodin said has become overcrowded.

"We're just bursting at the seams," he said.

Expanding to the Kit Street office will enable SBW to hire at least 10 new people in that department and help the other N.H. Mutual Bancorp affiliates provide similar services, according to Bodin. Merrimack County Savings Bank has a small customer-resource team, and Meredith Village Savings Bank doesn't have anyone doing that work, he said.

In addition to its association with N.H. Mutual Bancorp, which dates to 2018, SBW is expanding because its assets have grown by nearly 50 percent — to $600 million — over the past two years, the bank announced Wednesday. SBW has approximately 25,000 clients, Bodin said.

"We always believed our affiliation with N.H. Mutual Bancorp would result in expansion and more opportunities in our local market," he said in the release. "Our model is one that recognizes the strength and importance of continued investment in our local communities and this expansion is a great example of that."

Caleb Symons can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1420, or csymons@keenesentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter @CalebSymonsKS.