Independent Banker - July 2021 - 53

the next level, " says Mark Nelson, senior vice president,
chief information officer and chief operations officer at the
community bank. " The acquisition of Monotto puts us in
control of our own destiny technology-wise and moves us
closer to our goal of technological autonomy. "
Monotto's mission was to improve financial literacy
and planning for millennials, says Christian Ruppe, who
led the fintech and joined Horicon Bank as vice president
and digital banking officer after the acquisition. One of
the company's key products, RoboSave, is an automated
savings tool that uses artificial intelligence to identify
how much money customers can save daily. It then
automatically moves this amount into a savings account
every few days, making adjustments in concert with the
Sunflower Bank's successful
nonbank acquisition
customer's financial situation.
" This is the product that initially caught our eye, " Nelson
says. " As we got to know more about Monotto, Christian
and their leadership team, we began to see that an
acquisition might make sense for both of us. "
During the pandemic, Horicon Bank launched
KindMoney, a digital banking channel that takes what
it calls a " principled approach to stewarding money and
helping others. "
" Monotto's contributions to and vision for KindMoney
were another important factor in our decision to acquire
them, " says Fred C. Schwertfeger, senior vice president
and chief communication officer at Horicon Bank. " Their
expertise is really going to help us grow our digital
banking channel. "
The acquisition is also helping the community bank
improve internal operations. For example, Monotto's
technology is improving the analytics of customer
transactions, and it will play a pivotal role in the bank's
new customer relationship management (CRM) system.
" It takes different perspectives and experiences to
offer the products and services that are right for your
customers, " Ruppe adds. " Sometimes, banks need to
go outside of the industry to get these perspectives,
which is one of the things Horicon Bank did when
acquiring Monotto. "
Benchmark Bank goes after deals
Early this year, Benchmark Bank in Plano, Texas,
completed its acquisition of a wealth management firm in
Waco to beef up its wealth management presence.
Benchmark Private Wealth Management, the
wealth management division of the nearly $1 billionasset
community bank, which started offering wealth
management services six years ago, decided to acquire
Ferguson Wealth Management in Waco, Texas.
The deal quickly grew its assets under management
(AUM), says Jonathan Filgo, the community bank's
CEO. The acquisition grew Benchmark Private Wealth
Management's AUM from about $350 million to about
This past September, $5 billion-asset
Sunflower Bank headquartered in Denver
acquired the 18-person trust and wealth
advisory business of CIT Bank and merged
it with its existing wealth management team
in Scottsdale, Ariz.
" We're primarily an organic-growth bank,
but this group fit well within our geographic
footprint and skill capabilities, " says
Sunflower Bank chairman Mollie Carter.
" Wealth management is a big need for our
clients, and they have high expectations, so
the deal made a lot of sense for us. "
Mike Winkel, head of Sunflower Bank
Wealth Management, says the community
bank was able to bring on high-quality staff
by acquiring the CIT team. The other benefit
was an $800 million boost to Sunflower
Bank Wealth Management's assets under
administration, which brought its total
to nearly $2 billion. " This team fits nicely
with the wealth management team we're
building in Scottsdale, and the acquisition
gave us the additional heft we wanted, "
Winkel says.
Carter says Sunflower Bank did a lot of
due diligence work up front to make sure
that the new employees and the systems
would " mesh well " together. " This is critical,
because clients will be impacted during the
conversion process. There's no way around
it, " she says. " We wanted to make sure we
could serve our new clients in the manner
they expect. "
Winkel says it's important for a
community bank to make sure it really
understands the products and services
offered by the nonbank firm and that it's
well equipped to deliver them. " There might
be different words and terminology used
[to describe what you both offer], so be
prepared for this, " he adds.
The deal not only benefited the
community bank but CIT Bank's clients,
too, as they gained access to Sunflower
Bank's private banking offering. " This
makes the acquisition beneficial for all the
stakeholders, " Carter says, " which is what
you're really hoping for. "
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