DENVER — A newly formed bank-holding company has selected Denver as its headquarters and plans to eventually expand along the Front Range.

InBankshares Corp., founded by a group of seasoned banking executives, raised approximately $70 million of common equity to acquire Raton Capital Corp., the bank-holding company for New Mexico-based International Bank, for cash consideration of $46.3 million.

The transaction has been approved by shareholders and bank-regulatory authorities.

Ed Francis, InBankshares’ board chairman and chief executive, said on Thursday that the holding company doesn’t have immediate plans for expansion on the drawing board but said cities in Weld, Larimer, Boulder and Broomfield counties are desirable locations in which to expand.

He said InBankshares plans to select locations where it can hire teams of bankers that already are established in a specific market.

“It will depend on the timing, when the opportunities arise,” Francis said. “We will use the concept of a business center of 2,000 to 2,500 square feet where the team works out of, and we will rely on our technology platform, having customers use computers and phones to conduct bank business,” he said. “Customers can visit with our bankers, but our bankers will be making an effort to visit our customers.”

He said using technology can take the place of customers having to drive on congested streets to get to a bank building.

Francis said the holding company has selected a headquarters site in Denver but is not ready to divulge the location to the public, right now.

International Bank was founded in 1918 in Raton, N.M., by Italian immigrant Joe DiLisio and operates five branches in northern New Mexico and two in Colorado — Trinidad and Aurora. It has approximately $320 million in total assets.

The holding company is led by Francis, a bank executive with 30 years of financial institution experience, and a senior-management team of experienced banking executives from the Denver metro area and International Bank markets. Francis previously was executive vice president and chief banking officer of Hancock Whitney, a $27 billion financial services company.  

“We are proud to stand on the shoulders of the DiLisio and Moore families who provided the leadership and capital that built the 100-year legacy of International Bank.”

The bank’s new executive management team includes Francis; Dennis Santistevan, chief financial officer/chief operating officer; David Brown, chief risk officer; Jennifer Fulton Anderson, chief administrative officer; and Jeff Huckabee, chief information officer.

Davis Butler, Art Sankey, Brian Kreps, Brett Haigler and Eric Barnett will serve as senior team leaders with a plan to build commercial and private banking teams.

“Each of the co-founding executives has made a personal financial investment into our bank, which we believe will provide a unique opportunity for our customers to work with bankers who are owners and are heavily invested in the success of the bank,” Francis said.

The bank will continue to operate locations in Raton, Cimarron, Springer and Angel Fire, N.M., and Trinidad and Aurora under the International Bank name. “We see the Denver metro area as a vibrant and growing market that will benefit greatly from a locally managed community bank,” Francis said.