Gala event marks 25th anniversary of United Banker' Bank

Northwestern Financial Review, Nov 4, 2000

In what is likely to be remembered as the social event of the year, United Bankers' Bank hosted hundreds of bankers and guests Oct. 12 for a formal dinner at the Radisson Hotel South in Bloomington. The nation's first banker's bank was celebrating the 25th anniversary of its charter. A daylong seminar followed on Oct. 13.

"On December 15,1975, the first bankers' bank was chartered," commented Ken Guenther, executive vice president of the Independent Community Bankers of America. "One hundred and eighty-nine banks raised $1.3 million in capital. Bob Barsness' father [E. Norman Barsness] was one of the original incorporators." Bob Barsness is president of the Prior Lake State Bank in Prior Lake, Minn., and is the ICBA's immediate past president. Guenther was one of several guests who spoke during the dinner.

"Minnesota community bankers were again ahead of their time in recognizing a need and in defining a solution. This bankers' bank model again spread throughout the United States. This concept is revolutionarily simply - pool the capital of community banks, charter a new kind of correspondent bank owned by community bankers and staff it out accordingly," Guenther said.

"Three legs provide a very secure foundation for a chair. The three legs of the successful community banking movement - home grown in Minnesota - are the ICBA, the state independent bankers associations and the bankers' banks - pioneered by your United Bankers' Bank."

Bill Rosacker, UBB president since 1985, was master of ceremonies for the event. Among those honored were Bob Buscher, the bank's first stockholder who helped raise much of the capital for the bank, and Dick Holmes, the long-time correspondent banker who is retiring and moving to Australia.

The seminar featured breakout sessions presented by Jack Henry & Associates, RSM McGladrey and Winthrop & Wienstine. Jamie Clarke, a Canadian who has scaled Mount Everest, opened the seminar with an inspirational description of his adventures. In addition, technology guru Jack Shaw gave bankers an e-commerce update. Shaw is president of the Marietta, Ga.-based eCommerce Strategies, Inc. The seminar closed with a lively post-luncheon presentation by political consultant j a m e s Carville, a Democrat, and former Republican senator from Wyoming, Alan Simpson.