Ludlow Banking Center rendering courtesy of PeoplesBank.

Holyoke-based PeoplesBank will open a new branch next month in Ludlow, giving the town its first interactive teller machine.

Planning for the banking center had started before the pandemic, the bank said in a statement, and the pandemic has since given PeoplesBank’s investments in technology “a whole new meaning and value.”

PeoplesBank President and CEO Tom Senecal said in a statement that the Ludlow Banking Center’s drive-thru VideoBanker ITM is “about as close to curbside banking as you can get, except with way better hours.”

“Customers can do pretty much anything they can with a teller – except they do not have to enter the banking center,” Senecal said. “This new technology also allows us to extend the banking day and they will be available seven days a week including Sundays. Customers are finding a whole new level of convenience by banking when they need to as opposed to when they have to.”

The new Banking Center at 450 Center Street near the Massachusetts Turnpike is scheduled to open on Oct. 15.

The Ludlow Banking Center was designed according to Senecal’s vision of the branch of the future, the bank said.

“While we apply the design template differently every time we build a new branch, the basic elements are the same: new technology, an open interior, and an empowered Universal Banker team of associates all housed in an extremely efficient footprint,” Senecal said.

Scott Ganhao has joined PeoplesBank as manager of the new banking center.

“Ludlow is a hardworking, close-knit community comprised of many cultures,” Ganhao said. “PeoplesBank is a great community partner. We are going to bring technology that people have not seen, and I think Ludlow is going to embrace that.”

PeoplesBank has almost $3.2 billion in total assets and 20 offices in Western Massachusetts and Connecticut.