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2009-11-21

2009-11-18

2009-11-05

Agriculture

Lifestyles

Wednesday, May 20, 2009 11:55 AM

Longtime Pomona, Garnett banks merging

By LINDA BROWN, Herald Staff

Two area banks — both more than a century old — plan to join forces this summer.

Citizens State Bank, 1250 E. Logan St., Ottawa, and Garnett State Savings Bank, 106 E. Fifth St., Garnett, will merge in July. The combined institution will be known as GSSB and will have five locations and about $110 million in assets.

Besides the Ottawa location, Citizens State Bank has a branch in Pomona and $25 million in assets.

Garnett State Savings Bank has two locations in Garnett and one in Colony. They bring $85 million in assets to the union.

Mike Skidmore, president of Citizens State Bank, said the blending of assets will put Citizens on more level lending ground.

“A small bank is great. You get personalized service, a friendly atmosphere and a real one-on-one approach to banking,” he said. “But because banks have lending limits, we haven’t always been able to satisfy some of the larger loan requests. This merger will nearly quadruple our lending limits and make us better able to lend in this market.”

The merger also answers some personnel issues caused by continuing complexity in the banking industry, Skidmore said.

“Garnett is strong in some personnel areas, we have good people in others,” Skidmore said. “This will allow us to capitalize on our human resource assets as well.”

Skidmore expects the merger to be seamless for customers at both banks.

“We’ll take care of as much internally as possible for our customers including, in some cases, automatic monthly debits,” he said.

“Customers can expect business to go on as usual with the same staff in place at all five locations.”

Skidmore will remain at the helm of Citizens State Bank locations. Loran Wilson, president of Garnett State Savings Bank, will retain his top management position.

Both banks are owned by Goppert Financial Services of Kansas City, Mo., and already share some board of directors and loan committee members.

Garnett State Savings Bank was established in 1899. Citizens State Bank of Pomona was established in 1901.

“The Goppert family has always run strong, safe banks. The only difference our customers will see is that we’ll now be a $110 million bank and much stronger for everyone involved,” Wilson said. “We plan to be around at least another 100 years. This is the right move for us, our customers and our communities.”

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Longtime Pomona, Garnett banks merging

By LINDA BROWN, Herald Staff

E-mail this story to a friend | Print this article | Enjoy the convenience of home delivery of The Ottawa Herald.

E-mail this story to a friend | Print this article |
Enjoy the convenience of home delivery of The Ottawa Herald.