Bank to open sites in markets

Staff report

youngstown

Huntington Bank announced Wednesday that it will double the number of branch locations in the Valley through a new partnership with Giant Eagle supermarkets that is expected to create 500 jobs statewide.

The Columbus-based bank has signed a 15-year exclusive agreement with the supermarket chain to install full-service branches in 103 Giant Eagle locations, including 11 in the greater Youngstown area, said Frank Hierro, Huntington’s regional director for the Mahoning Valley.

Huntington said it aims to build new branches in 26 Ohio Giant Eagle locations by the end of 2011 and replace bank branches in 75 stores when their contracts expire.

The bank also will install branches in any newly constructed Giant Eagle supermarkets.

New branches are scheduled to open at the Giant Eagle locations in Boardman, Salem and Austintown in March 2011, Hierro said.

The company will hire about 20 employees to work at these branches, he said.

Huntington will eventually replace bank branches at the eight other Giant Eagle locations in the Valley.

The bank’s agreement with Giant Eagle is part of its strategy to increase market share in communities such as the Mahoning Valley, Hierro said.

“Huntington has been positioning itself to grow in the Midwest,” Hierro said. “In-store banking is just one of these strategies.”

The bank’s Giant Eagle branches, which will offer a full range of banking and financial services seven days a week, also are designed to increase customer convenience, he added.

“This enables us to bring increased, enhanced customer services to our existing clients and helps us bring in new ones,” Hierro said.