Minnesota’s Citizens Alliance Bank acquiring Montana bank

Clara City, Minn.-based Citizens Alliance Bank is acquiring central Montana-based Stockmens Bank. .Citizens Alliance Bank is expected to grow to more than $1.5 billion in assets following the acquisition of the $42 million Stockmens Bank early next year. Citizens Alliance Bank President Chad Forkrud said his bank plans to remain in the city where Stockmens Bank is headquartered, Cascade. .The deal is expected to close early next year. Citizens Alliance Bank holding company Forstrom Bancorp entered Montana in 1998 by acquiring an office in Seeley Lake. Last year, Citizens Alliance Bank acquired southwest Montana-based Granite Mountain Bank. Today, Citizens Alliance Bank has a half-dozen branches in Montana and 10 offices in rural areas of west-central Minnesota. ."Following the merger, Stockmens customers will see new banking products introduced, such as bank-sourced Visa credit cards, direct access to the secondary real estate lending market, construction lending for residential and commercial real estate, an expanded bank-lending limit, enhanced digital banking technologies and expanded cash management services," according to Citizens Alliance Bank.