Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Bank to merge with North Cascades
Wheatland Banks, which include branches in Davenport, Odessa and Wilbur, announced Tuesday it was merging with Glacier Bancorp.
DAVENPORT - Wheatland Bank has reached an agreement to join the Glacier Bancorp family of banks, the company announced in a press release Tuesday, Aug. 8.
Wheatland will merge with Chelan-based North Cascades Bank, which has nine branches and 100 employees in the North Central Washington area. The merger is expected to occur in the fourth financial quarter of this year.
The combination will include 23 branches and about 250 employees around the central and eastern parts of the state.
Wheatland CEO and President Susan Horton will also act the expanded division, which will still be called Wheatland Bank.
"Glacier is truly the partner we have always dreamed of, and we couldn't be more excited about becoming part of their family of banks, and embracing the customers, employees and communities of their successful North Cascades Bank division," Horton said. "Not only is Glacier one of the strongest and highest performing banking companies in the nation, but their community banking operating model and decentralized culture make them a perfect fit for our customers, employees and shareholders."
"We will have the strength, depth of resources and liquidity of a $28 billion public company traded on the New York Stock Exchange, will expand our local Wheatland footprint and immediately double in size after integrating the North Cascades division to become a Top 5 eastern Washington bank."
Glacier Bancorp is a publicly owned bank holding company headquartered in Kalispell, Montana. Its CEO and president is Randy Chesler.
The company has 17 bank divisions around the Western United States.
"We are excited and proud to welcome Wheatland to the Glacier family of banks," Chesler said. "Wheatland's footprint complements our current presence in eastern Washington, a market which has been experiencing tremendous growth. We have truly admired the impact this franchise has had on its community and are focused on fostering the relationships it has developed with its customers."
Wheatland said in a press release that the merger won't affect customer accounts or holdings.
The bank, now headquartered in Spokane, was founded in Davenport Sept. 4, 1979.
The original board of directors included Roger Underwood, Roger Lyle, W.D. McLaughlin, Charles Miller, Joe Lilje, Orri Morris, Jeff Mangis, Chester Timm, Boyd Ressel, Robert Gunning and Lawrence Libsack.
The first bank president was Gene Clark.
There are currently three Wheatland branches in Lincoln County, including Davenport, Odessa and Wilbur.
Davenport branch manager Jenna Buck declined comment for this story, while Odessa branch management didn't return a call requesting comment by press time.
Drew Lawson is the editor of the Davenport Times. He is a graduate of Eastern Washington University.
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