With its announcement just days ago that it’s chosen a Nashville market president, Metropolitan Bank – which is co-headquartered in Memphis and in Ridgeland, Miss. – became the latest to direct some attention east of the Tennessee River. As part of its expansion into Nashville, Metropolitan announced it is looking for an office location and key talent with which to staff it up pending regulatory approval of the expansion.

If all goes according to plan, Metropolitan will have picked a new office site by the end of the year and have it open sometime early in 2012.

Metropolitan, a still relatively new bank in the area, got off the ground in 2008 and since then has planned for expansion into Nashville and other growth markets in Tennessee, Metropolitan founding president and CEO Curt Gabardi says.

Meanwhile, a week or so before Metropolitan’s announcement, the president and CEO of First Tennessee Bank’s parent company said at an industry conference in New York City that his bank is just as hungry to grow in Middle Tennessee.

First Tennessee, the parent company of which is Memphis-based First Horizon National Corp., is the fifth-ranked bank in the Nashville-area market, the most recent customer deposit share report from the FDIC shows.

“We’re No. 1 in four of the five MSAs in the state of Tennessee,” said First Horizon president and CEO Bryan Jordan. “Nashville is the area where we are aggressively focused on growing that business. In year-over-year comparisons, the progress we’re making in Nashville – in the Middle Tennessee market – has been very strong. We’re seeing 11 and 12 percent, respectively, loan and deposit growth rates year over year, so making good progress there.

“We’re also seeing a significant improvement in our revenue per FTE. It’s up close to 30 percent on an annualized basis … in the Middle Tennessee market. So I think we’re making good strides with our focus in Middle Tennessee, and the strong market share is very important to our model.”

Metropolitan, meanwhile, has hired Bill Menkel as president of the Nashville market. He has three decades of experience in the banking industry, including 15 years at the executive level at National Bank of Commerce.

Metropolitan currently operates five full-service banking offices in Mississippi and Tennessee. Its Nashville ambitions come on the heels of expanding its presence in the Memphis market, which the bank announced last month.

The bank has now for the first time brought a mortgage team to Memphis. It’s also opening a new office in the city at 5264 Poplar Ave.