Merger FAQs

Lake Ridge Bank: A Merger of Equals

On March 15th, State Bank of Cross Plains and Monona Bank jointly announced that our banks will be merging. Integrating our two financial institutions will obviously require significant planning and execution, and though the merger is fully approved, our conversion into Lake Ridge Bank will not occur until February 2023. In the meantime, we do not expect you will see many changes to how you currently bank with us – and you can continue interacting with your current bank just as you do now. 

Most importantly, clients will continue to receive the same high-quality service from many of the same knowledgeable associates they have come to expect. We will work hard to minimize any inconvenience to our clients. We will also share more details about our merger as they are finalized. Our new bank will continue to take the guiding principles of community banking very seriously. To that end, we will continue to play an active role in supporting all 17 of the communities our new bank will serve, to help them continue to be great places to live, work, and play.

This Merger of Equals will provide significant benefits to the clients of both banks:

  • More locations – our new bank will have more than 20 offices throughout South Central Wisconsin.
  • Enhanced deposit account and service offerings.
  • Increased business loan capabilities.

 

 

Additional Merger Resources


Update from Jim Tubbs and Paul Hoffmann

Conversion instructions :

Intuit aggregation services may be interrupted for up to 3-5 business days. Users are encouraged to download a QFX/QBO file during this outage. The following services may not work during the outage:

  • Quicken Win/Mac Express Web Connect
  • QuickBooks Online Express Web Connect
  • Mint

Please carefully review your downloaded transactions after completing the migration instructions to ensure no transactions were duplicated or missed on the register.

If you have any questions, please call our Customer Support team at (608) 223-3000 (consumer accounts), or our Treasury Management Support team at (608) 310-1240 (business accounts).

For more information about our two banks, please visit our websites at mononabank.com or sbcp.bank. You can also check out the social media accounts of both banks to get a better feel of both our respective commitments to our communities as well as philosophies of doing business.

State Bank of Cross Plains has been providing financial services in the Dane County area for nearly 115 years (founded in 1908). Monona Bank has just over 30 years (founded in 1991) of experience assisting our communities with all their financial needs.

Monona Bank is currently headquartered in Monona, WI, and has nine locations in and around Dane County. State Bank of Cross Plains is currently headquartered in Cross Plains, WI (outside of Middleton), and has 14 locations in South Central Wisconsin. At this time, we do not know where our new bank will be headquartered, other that we know it will be in the Madison area.

Our bank understands the importance of keeping our clients and communities “in the loop” as we move forward, and we will be sharing more merger information with you as any changes and decisions are made.

As we get closer to our final systems conversion, all clients will receive a “Conversion Booklet” with everything you need to know about any changes to your accounts and how you will interact with our new bank.

Of course, you can always ask your banking advisor if you have questions about our merger plans as well.

While the boards of both banks recently signed the initial agreement (the Definitive Agreement) to merge our banks, there is a lot of work that still needs to be done. We need to obtain several regulatory and shareholder approvals before we can move forward with all the behind-the-scenes work. While we do not have a definitive timeline for these approvals, we anticipate this will be a smooth process and we will have all necessary approvals completed by this Fall.

One of the first decisions we need to make is what to call our new bank and its holding company. If everything goes as well as we expect, we will finalize our conversion and begin operating as one newly merged bank (under our new name) in Spring 2023. Until then, you can continue to interact with your current bank just like you do today.

Yes! In fact, one of the biggest reasons we are excited about our merger and the fact that we will become the largest community bank headquartered in southcentral Wisconsin, and we will be able to provide our clients with even more products and services from even more locations. Rest assured, even though we will be larger, our commitment to our 17 communities will not change. Our bank and associates will continue to be integral and active members in of the communities we serve. Being larger also means we will be able to participate in larger loans and have access to new products to help our region’s communities and clients prosper. In short, this merger allows our banks to continue to be even more community-focused, not less.

No, not for the time being. In fact, until we complete the integration of our core systems in Spring 2023, we do not anticipate most clients will see any changes to the way they currently bank with us. As we work through integrating our organizations and systems, we will communicate any changes to your accounts or how you will interact with our bank well in advance. However, as we merge our systems, we anticipate your account numbers and specific account types may change as we streamline our product offerings. Again, we assure you we will do everything possible to ensure minimal disruption to your banking, and we will always communicate any changes happening with your accounts well before they occur.

All offices will remain open at this time. However, we will be looking at potential duplication of offerings resulting from our merger as we move forward. We are excited about the opportunity this merger gives us to be part of and serve the financial needs of 17 communities as we move forward.

Yes, in fact you will need to continue to use your current bank’s locations until our conversion is completed in Spring 2023, since each bank currently uses a different core system.

Providing the highest possible level of service is a top priority for both of our banks. We will work hard to ensure clients continue to see the same knowledgeable and friendly associates, as well as receive the same extraordinary service they’ve come to expect from our banks. We realize our associates are one of our biggest assets. As a larger bank, we will be able to offer our associates new opportunities and expect some associates will be able to move to new positions based on their interests and skills, so you may see some new faces as we move forward.

For the time being, you will see very little or no impact due to our merger. In fact, you will continue to interact with your current bank as you always have, using the same technologies and locations. Once we have completed the merger, you will have access to the same extraordinary service and knowledgeable associates as you do now. Depending on your relationship with our banks, you may have more products and services available to you, and more locations to choose from.

Yes, we are currently working on a new bank name that better reflects the combined strengths and future of our new bank. We will begin using this new name when the two banks are fully integrated and operating as one company.

State Bank of Cross Plains currently has more than $1.6 billion in assets with 250 associates and 14 locations. Monona Bank has assets of $1.2 billion, with 165 associates and nine locations. When our merger is completed in Spring 2023, our new bank is expected to have nearly $3 billion in assets, with more than 20 locations in 17 communities. Our new bank will be the largest locally owned community bank in South Central Wisconsin and the sixth-largest bank in the State of Wisconsin.

Our banks have been friendly competitors for many years and have worked together on many deals and community events as well as supporting many of the same organizations. We know each other quite well, and both organizations see tremendous synergies in combining their respective strengths into a single, larger, more competitive, community-focused financial institution. As a larger bank, we will have access to additional products and services which will allow us to better serve the needs of our clients, associates, shareholders, and communities.