Bremer adds private banking

Northwestern Financial Review, Sep 1-Sep 14, 2003

St. Paul, Minn.-based Bremer Financial Corp. has expanded its downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul offerings to include private banking. With its new Private Client Services, Bremer now is able to offer affluent clients services that include private banking, investment management, trust services, insurance and financial planning expertise.

"We have added significant talent to Bremer since we first decided to implement an aggressive wealth management strategy last year," said Stan Dardis, president and CEO of Bremer Financial Corp. "We were able to attract some of the most experienced and successful people from other organizations to help build Bremer's capability."

In November 2002, Kate Kelly joined Bremer as senior vice president, financial services, to lead the development and implementation of the bank's wealth management strategy, as well as manage the company's investment, trust and insurance business lines. Kelly formerly managed U.S. Bank's corporate banking group in the Twin Cities.

The private banking management team includes Michele Martin who will oversee the Minneapolis market, and Randy Rageth who will manage the St. Paul market. Like Kelly, Martin and Rageth were part of U.S. Bank's Private Client Group. The Minneapolis team also includes Barbara Aman, Jennifer Nordahl and Craig Ordal. Gaylene Petersen joined Bremer's St. Paul office also from U.S. Bank.

Private banking services are housed at Bremer's Minneapolis and St. Paul commercial banking hubs where the bank also offers commercial real estate lending, treasury management, international banking and employee benefits services.

The fourth-largest bank in the Twin Cities, Bremer has nearly doubled in size since 1998 to $5.4 billion in assets.