Citizens National Bank has announceed the opening of a loan production office in Defiance. Located on the second floor at 607 W. Third St., the office began servicing customers in December.

It will provide commercial business development services to the area, including real estate loans, commercial lines of credit, agricultural lending and access to deposits through the bank's online for business and merchant capture services.

"The needs of the Defiance community play to the strengths of our bank - a strong commercial base and a focus on agriculture. We've developed a keen understanding of the importance of building personal relationships with these clients and developing unique funding solutions for each of them," said President and CEO, J. Michael Romey.

A key component of fostering those relationships is providing professional banking officers who are familiar with this area of Ohio he added.

Citizens National Bank named Jason LaBounty and Adam Fritz as VP/Business Development Officers in the Defiance office.

Joining them as a Commercial/Agricultural Loan Assistant is Sharon Bassett. LaBounty and Fritz are responsible for establishing new commercial relationships for CNB, and for analyzing customer portfolios.

Bassett will provide lending support and customer service for Defiance clients.

With a degree in finance from Defiance College, LaBounty has worked in the financial industry since 2003. He is a Defiance College Alumni Executive Board Member and finance committee member for the Putnam County YMCA. He and his wife, Melissa, and daughter, Addyson, live in Paulding.

Adam, a Defiance College, has seven years of banking experience, specializing in agricultural lending. He and his wife, Kara, live in Defiance.

Bassett of Ney, attended classes at Northwest State Community College, Archbold, and has more than 25 years of banking experience. She is involved with the United Way committee of Defiance County. She has two daughters, Lindsey, of Marysville, OH and Kaci of Oxford.