Naperville business leaders opening their own bank
The Business Ledger
Posted on Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Beth Carter, Contributing Writer

Naperville businesses will have a new banking option as early as this June, says a group of 20 community leaders.

Frustrated with what they consider a lack of true community banking options in Naperville, these men and women are putting their money where their mouths are by creating the First Community Bank of Naperville (FCB Naperville).

The new bank will open this summer at a temporary location at 2728 W. 75th St., just east of Ill. Rte. 59, on Naperville's west side. And, while awaiting its charter, it will function initially as a branch of the First Community Bank of Joliet, whose president, Stephen Morrissette, is one of the founding directors in Naperville.

Ray Kinney, one of the bank's founders and president/co-owner of MinuteMan Press and co-owner of the Maclyn Group, believes that as banks have consolidated, many formerly local banks have essentially become order-taking offices for big, out-of-state banks.

Kinney believes this hurts the local community, and he and his colleagues want to offer an alternative.

"We've found that the guys that know us, our local bankers, aren't really making the decisions," he said. "So we're trying to create a bank that allows businesses locally to grow and to have good relationships with their bank, that knows who they are and what they stand for in the community."

The process to obtain a new bank charter is complex and can take up to two years, but Scott Wehrli, chairman of the Board of FCB Naperville and a partner in DuKane PreCast Inc., has some experience in it.

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