Renamed InBank sets sights on Northern Colorado, Boulder Valley expansion

DENVER — International Bank, a 101-year-old institution with operations in Colorado and New Mexico, recently changed its name to InBank and is planning to expand its footprint to include the Boulder Valley and Northern Colorado.

The bank was founded in Raton, N.M., by Italian immigrant Joe DiLisio. Because many of his customers were fellow immigrants from around the world, DiLisio named the institution International Bank.

“He wanted to be inclusive,” current International Bank CEO Ed Francis said.

The term “international bank” means something very different than it did in the early 1900s.

“When we moved into Denver and put up a sign with our name, people assumed we were an international bank. So they’d come in and want to wire money to Abu Dhabi, to Spain, to wherever,” Francis said. “That’s not what we do; we’re a community bank.”

As the bank ramps up plans to expand in Colorado beyond existing operations in Aurora, Greenwood Village and Trinidad, leaders decided a new, less confusing name was in order.

“We knew if we were going to grow into Front Range markets, we were going to have to do a branding change,” Francis said. “We really wanted to modernize the name, and I’m a firm believer that there’s genius in simplicity.”

Thus, InBank was born.

“We do have ambitions to be in the [Northern Colorado and Boulder Valley] market,” Francis said. “We’ve got some things in the works, but nothing definitive at this point.”

While other community and small regional banks are being absorbed by large national institutions, Francis said InBank hopes to differentiate itself in the Colorado market by remaining independent and local.

“We’re bringing a high level of commercial banking expertise to a community bank,” he said. “…Our money is no greener [than large competitors], so it really comes down to the advice we give.”

While there are no immediate plans to open additional branches in Colorado, InBank is hiring new bankers to add to its roughly 100-member team.

New physical locations will be built to accommodate new employees as needed.

“Our primary focus right now is the [Interstate 25] corridor,” Francis said. “ … It’s going to make a lot of sense for us to take advantage of what’s going on in the northern part of Colorado along that corridor — Fort Collins, Greeley, Boulder, all of those places are attractive to us.”

It might not be this year or next when InBank builds a physical presence in Northern Colorado or Boulder Valley, but it likely won’t be much longer than a few years, Francis said.

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