2017 a strong year for Home Savings

October 4, 2017 at 12:00a.m.

POLAND

Youngstown-based Home Savings has had a very strong year.

“It continues to be a nice, steady business,” said Gary Small, CEO of the local bank.

On Tuesday at The Lake Club in Poland and today at The Avalon Inn in Warren, Home Savings brought in John Crosson, president of MainStreet Advisors, its partner in investment management services, to provide an economic update for its clients.

Crosson provided insight on the economy and what to look at when considering investment.

Home Savings is continuing to expand its teams and grow in the Mahoning Valley. Recently, it opened a wealth-management office with four employees who combined have more than 100 years of experience.

“We put together the best team in the Mahoning Valley for private banking, trust and asset management,” Small said.

In January, the company closed on its first acquisition since 2002 with Ohio Legacy Corp., parent company of Premier Bank and Trust. This gave the bank an asset and trust management business, which it did not have, and a physical footprint in Stark and Summit counties.

At the beginning of 2014, the bank had $1.5 billion in assets and now has $2.6 billion in assets.

Home Savings has 35 bank branch locations and 12 loan production offices in Ohio, western Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

“I think it’s evidence that the difficult days of the financial crash are behind us,” Small said of Home Savings’ success.

Although the current economic environment is favorable, Home Savings remains cautious.

“Ultimately, things will turn less favorable,” Small said. “Although we love the current environment ... we feel we are well positioned that if that downturn does come, we will be in great shape to garner additional business. We really appreciate the Valley’s confidence in us.”