Competition in the credit union market just got steeper with Southeast Financial, a credit union based in Franklin, Tenn., recently purchasing the Fort Campbell Federal Credit Union branch on Ashley Circle in Bowling Green.

John Simmonds, president and CEO of Southeast Financial, said the purchase, effective April 1, was a move by Clarksville, Tenn.-based Fort Campbell Federal Credit Union to concentrate their efforts in the areas where it had other branches.

Fort Campbell Federal had operated at 1207 Ashley Circle since 1991, according to the company’s Web site.

Simmonds said Bowling Green’s banking market is very competitive.

&#8220You have a very diverse (market) – some community-owned banks, but you also have some banks that are regional and then you have banks that are a part of a national chain – you’re going to have competition,” Simmonds said. &#8220It is very competitive there, but we think we’ll do well.”

Simmonds said Bowling Green’s financial services sector is attractive because it’s a college town, with Western Kentucky University offering up nearly 20,000 students who can be hooked in early with a banking institution they will most likely stay with for most of their lives.

But it’s easy access to money through convenient banking locations, good service and a fair rate of their deposits and loans that keeps people with a financial institution, according to Simmonds.

At the time of the acquisition, Simmonds estimated Fort Campbell Federal had about $12 million in deposits and $10 million in loans – what he called a good starting point and strategic move to keep the branch’s existing location and staff.

&#8220We’re happy to be in Bowling Green. We’ve seen a great deal of growth already since we’ve been there,” Simmonds said.

Simmonds said Southeast Financial is in the process of converting its new branch to the credit union’s brand by renovating the 3,000-square-foot building, changing the entrance, adding more greenery, widening the drive-through and adding an ATM.

&#8220We do plan to expand further in the Bowling Green area,” Simmonds said. &#8220We do have plans to expand into Kentucky further, mostly along the border. …We’re called Southeast Financial and we’re called that for a reason – that’s our market area.”

Assets for Southeast Financial are $325 million, Simmonds said.

&#8220We do everything that a bank does (business lending, mortgages, and credit cards), but we don’t have a trust department – and that’s something we opt not to do. However, we do some of the things that a trust department does through a bank, but we do that through Members Financial,” Simmonds said.

In other banking news:

€Bowling Green-based South Central Bank is in the process of finalizing its plans to relocate its leased Fairview Avenue location to a 3,800-square-foot building on Lehman Avenue.

The price of the project hasn’t been determined and a builder hasn’t been selected yet, according to bank President Brad Howard..

&#8220In two weeks I hope to have that company named,” Howard said, adding that he hopes the bank will break ground in the first week of June.

South Central Bank has six Bowling Green locations and one branch in Franklin.

The intersection of Fairview Avenue and U.S. 31-W By-Pass has become a hotbed for new bank branches, he said, because of its proximity to the Cemetery Road-Interstate 65 interchange.

&#8220It’s one of the main thoroughfares into the gateway of our community,” Howard said.

€Service One Credit Union recently completed the renovation of the front lobby for its location on U.S. 31-W By-Pass.

&#8220We are still working out some details, including the parking lot and the back offices. We will be having a ribbon-cutting sometime in June,” Samantha Lyles, marketing manager, said in an e-mail.

Beginning Monday, Service One’s By-Pass branch will have new hours: Monday through Thursday, the drive-through will be open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., lobby 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Friday, the drive-through will be open 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., lobby 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.