Wells Fargo expands into Morgan County

By David Milstead, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published June 19, 2008 at 11:26 a.m.
Updated June 19, 2008 at 11:26 a.m.

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Wells Fargo was already No. 1 in deposits in the state of Colorado. In one fell swoop, it’s gone from zero to No. 1 in Morgan County, northeast of Denver on Interstate 76.

Wells Fargo is buying Farmers State Bank of Fort Morgan, which, at one location, has assets of $145 million, deposits of $116 million, loans of $66 million and 35 employees.

Data from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. says that as of June 30, 2007, the bank was No. 1 in the county with 26.7 percent market share. Bank of Colorado, owned by Pinnacle Bancorp, was second with 20.3 percent.

It’s then a sharp drop to No. 3, Bank of the West, at 9.3 percent. The only other out-of-state player is KeyBank, which had about 3 percent of the market in one office, the FDIC said.

Unlike urban banks that are increasingly getting hit with troubled real estate and construction loans, Farmers State Bank is riding the agricultural boom, seeing its balance sheet improve.

A measure of problem loans, “noncurrent assets plus other real estate owned,” is dropping sharply as a percentage of the bank’s assets. In March 2007, it was a healthy 0.75 percent. As of March 31, it had shrunk to a microscopic 0.08 percent.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. In Colorado, Wells Fargo has 151 branches, 28 Wells Fargo Home Mortgage offices and 22 Wells Fargo Financial offices in nearly 70 communities.

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