Banks shuffle in eastern Colorado towns

One bank’s decision to move north is opening new banking possibilities in two eastern Colorado towns.

Colorado East Bank & Trust has purchased Citizens State Bank in the southern Weld County town of Keenesburg with plans to establish a Colorado East branch in the eastern plains town. The purchase was approved by the Colorado State Banking Board in October. The merger is expected to be official and Citizens Bank is expected to be wearing the Colorado East name by the end of the year.

Colorado East has six southeastern Colorado branches in Lamar, Holly, Granada, Springfield, and La Junta. The move north was a good fit for Colorado East and its holding company, ColoEast Bank Shares, said Steve Sherlock, Colorado East CEO.

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“Our bank is $250 million in size,” Sherlock said. “We’re pretty much tied to the Arkansas Valley. This would be a logical move to branch outside of our economic hub; to be in an area that’s got a whole different set of economic factors.”

Keenesburg’s agricultural roots are very similar to the southeastern region Colorado East has called home since its charter was granted in 1905. But Keenesburg’s potential for growth makes the move an attractive opportunity to branch out, Sherlock said.

“We see Keenesburg, as time goes on, as another community of people that work along the Front Range that want to move to a quieter, less expensive area,” he said.

Colorado East had been looking to move into other regions when Keenesburg-based Citizens came up for sale. After looking at the bank and its philosophies, Sherlock said the purchase was a good match with what Colorado East does.

The Colorado East Keenesburg branch is the only banking presence in town. It also will serve outlying communities such as Hudson, Roggen and the Prospect Valley, Sherlock said.

Along with the bank, Colorado East also acquired the Citizens Bank charter that dates back to 1948.

“We’re selling the charter of that bank,” Sherlock said. “That’s something that’s not done everyday. Charters normally don’t have any value. When a bank is merged they just go out of existence.”

The charter is being sold to Goodland, Kan.-based Bankwest, which plans to move the charter to Idalia in eastern Colorado.

Bankwest already has a loan-production office in the small, agricultural community, said vice president of human resources Linda Goodwin. The loan production office currently serves the approximate 50 to 75 people that live in Idalia, as well as about 450 residents from the surrounding area. Many customers from far-eastern Colorado bank at Bankwest’s branch in St. Francis, Kan., Goodwin said. St. Francis is approximately 35 miles from Idalia.

The move to full-service branch in Idalia is exciting, Goodwin said.

“It’s a great little town,” she said. “The people are so friendly.”

The Bankwest Idalia branch will be named Sunwest Bank of Colorado. The company already owns the building that will house the bank, and has a staff that is ready to open the branch. The only thing holding up the move is approval from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., Goodwin said. Both the Colorado and Kansas banking boards have already given their OK to the sale of the charter, Goodwin and Sherlock said.

“Everything on our part is done,” Goodwin said. “We’re waiting on FDIC approval.”

She said she is hopeful that approval will be final by December or January and Sunwest will open in Idalia shortly thereafter.

Sherlock said the Idalia community has rallied behind the bank’s move to town. At an April hearing on the Citizens Bank sale and subsequent sale of the charter, the majority of Idalia residents came to show their support for the move, he said.

“They’re very happy to have this opportunity for their community,” Sherlock said. “They see as an extension of their viability.”