By Thomas Sellers Jr.
In less than 20 years Patriot Bank has become a fixture in the Millington area.
With steady growth since 2001 Patriot Bank has reached some significant milestones in its first full decade of operation. The 2010s were good for Patriot Bank and CEO Charles Ennis.
The readers of The Millington Star took notice of Patriot Bank’s achievements and contributions to the community by voting it 2020 Business of the Year.
“Again I am humbled,” Ennis said who was also voted 2020 Readers’ Choice Man of the Year. “This artist rendering here will be our eight location and that will be in Arlington. It’s a little bit different design to what we’re used. Business is good. We should reach $400 million in size of total assets by the end of this year. We went from 0 to $400 million. This will be our 19th year in operation.”
Patriot Bank opened as a full-service bank with a focus on community service almost 20 years ago. In October 2001, the bank opened in Millington and eventually spread from Shelby County to Tipton and Fayette counties.
“In our tagline we say, ‘Down home banking,’” Ennis noted. “We feel that is the key is having that personal relationship with customers. They’re not just a number. They’re not just a statistic. We try to build those relationships by getting to know the customers and their needs. I had no idea, we thought at this time we would be half of the size we are today. We’ve been blessed with good employees.”
Now with multiple full service locations, Patriot Bank offers a wide range of consumer and commercial accounts and a mortgage division. To map out the bank, you can visit Patriot Bank in Millington, Collierville and Barretville in Shelby County. Up the road in Tipton County, there are locations in Covington and Atoka.
When Patriot Bank opened in 2001, it started with a full service bank and a mortgage division in two temporary locations. Both the bank and mortgage division moved into the new headquarters building at 8376 Highway 51 North in Millington around April 2003.
In the same year, Patriot Bank made the acquisition of BancPlus Mortgage to establish its presence in Collierville. Patriot Bank moved into the Tipton County market with a Patriot Bank Mortgage loan office in Atoka in February and the third full service banking location in Covington in May.
Those banks feature an experienced workforce. Most of Patriot Bank’s employees moved from larger banks to work in environment with more of a family atmosphere. Ennis’ wife Pat and Millington branch president Larry Jackson’s wife Francie have decorated most of the locations to have an ‘at-home’ feeling.
The Millington Star 2020 Readers’ Choice Business of the Year has maintained a steady pace of growth in the past 15 years topping the $100 million mark in assets at the end of 2004.
In May 2006, Patriot Bank acquired the banking operation in Barretville, making it the bank’s fourth full service location. Growth continued with the opening of Patriot Bank’s fifth location in South Tipton County in July 2007 and the opening of the sixth location at Covington South in September 2007. Patriot Bank Mortgage moved the existing mortgage office in Atoka to the new South Tipton facility in July 2007.
The bank purchased in 2010 a prime lot in the heart of the commercial district in Collierville. In January 2012, the Collierville location moved into their new building on Market Street.
As of 2020, Patriot Bank has five Shelby County locations including the future branch in Arlington to join Collierville, Millington, Barrettville and Rosemark. Up the road in Tipton County, Patriot Bank has two Covington locations and a South Tipton Branch.
“We like giving back to the community,” Ennis noted. “That’s a part of the key to our success. We do feel like it comes back to you like it says Biblically. ‘The more you give the more you’ll receive.’ The highlight, we had a really good year. We grew more than we normally do. We grew more profitable than we normally do. That’s always a good year to have. And we started the process of getting Arlington off the ground. Those are probably the top 3 or 4 things.”
Patriot Bank has sponsored several events through the year, given scholarships to Tipton County area students and held the Taste of Millington. On the business side, Patriot Bank helps with all financial needs from personal checking accounts, commercial accounts and mortgage loans.
Patriot also has many convenient services such as ATMs and debit cards, telephone banking and free online banking and bill pay. While offering a variety of competitive financial products, it’s Patriot Bank’s personalized and professional customer service that sets the bank apart. Complete customer satisfaction is the goal of both management and employees, and Patriot Bank. Patriot Bank’s slogan is “Down home Banking the Way It Should Be.”
“I’m going to start slowing down personally,” Ennis acknowledged. “I’ve already gone to 4 days a week and probably down to 3 days a week when I turn 70 this summer. Before I get completely out, I would like to be a $500 million bank. I think we’ve got enough locations.
“We need to digest some of these new markets we’ve got to make sure we’ve got the proper amount to customers and deposits in those new markets than we’ve got,” he concluded. “We need to grow internally.’
