GREENSBURG — A week after a Columbus, Ind., bank became the first in Indiana to fail in the current recession, another banking company is hiring nearly a dozen of that bank’s former employees and planning to move into the Bartholomew County seat.

Greensburg-based MainSource Bank announced this week it will open an office in Columbus in October and hopes to open at least three branches in Columbus within the next 24 months, said Daryl R. Tressler, chairman, president and chief executive officer.

Tressler’s announcement came after the 138-year Irwin Union Bank and Trust Co. of Columbus was sold Sept. 18 to First Financial Bank of Cincinnati.

Tressler said today by phone that MainSource hired eight Irwin employees to work in the loan and deposit office, which will eventually become one of the three full branches. MainSource later today will announce the hiring of another three Irwin employees who will be part of a management expansion by the bank into the Columbus market.

One of first eight hires, Rob Olds, will be president for the Columbus market.

Olds said in the announcement, “The entire team joining MainSource is excited to continue to offer local, community banking to the residents of Columbus and Bartholomew County. Each of us is invested in this community and we want to continue the tradition of local decision making and community involvement. MainSource Bank proves their dedication to this philosophy in all of the communities it serves, and Columbus is fortunate to have a banking institution that wants to carry out its philosophy here.”

MainSource Financial Group is traded on NASDAQ and reports assets of approximately $2.9 billion. The parent company’s divisions in Indiana, Ohio and Illinois operate 65 offices in 30 Indiana counties, five offices in two Ohio counties, and six offices in three Illinois counties. MainSource has no offices in Indianapolis. MainSource has one branch in northern Bartholomew County, in Edinburgh.