Michael Bilski combines love of tech, relationships to spark growth at North American Banking Company

Successfully launching a de novo bank requires being open to new technology while maintaining a connection to the relationship-based model that has made the industry successful..Consider North American Banking Company, which is led by CEO and Chair Michael Bilski. He and President Bradley Huckle started the Roseville, Minn.-based bank in 1998 with $4 million in capital from nearly 100 shareholders to combine modern technology with community-focused banking.During the ensuing 28 years, the bank has grown to $1.5 billion, and now serves the Twin Cities metro, in addition to payments customers across the country and Canada. Bilski traces that growth to his belief in advancing the payments technology landscape.North American Banking Company adopted same-day ACH before the service was mandated in fall 2016. The bank eventually became a high-volume ACH provider—the 25th largest in the country. “We had no idea payments would change the way they did,” he said. “I think we helped change it.”While some banks still see ACH as too expensive and time-consuming, Bilski said its benefits outweigh the drawbacks. “We’re all looking for deposits,” he added. “So if you become a receiver, at least you are going to benefit your customers. They are going to get the immediate payments. Not everybody has to be an originator, but it is a tool out there that is pretty easy to use.”Bilski also traced North American Banking Company’s growth to its openness to serve the then-nascent cannabis industry. In 2014, the bank became one of the first in Minnesota to make cannabis loans. Today, the bank provides checking, savings and other services for the industry.‘I believe in moving forward’Bilski’s status as a payments industry leader spans decades. A former bank operations and accounting officer, Bilski helped the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis test back-room image processing in the early 1990s, with regional money orders payable through items clearing through a community bank.A UMACHA board member, Bilski is a former Nacha board member and officer. He is also on the ICBA Payments and Technology Committee and a Federal Reserve Board advisor for ICBA. Bilski chaired the U.S. Faster Payments Council for five years, which he credits for helping him understand the payments needs of large and small banks.He met with the U.S. Treasury in 1997 as the federal government prepared to mandate nearly all federal payments be made via electronic funds transfer instead of paper checks by 1999. “I believe in moving forward instead of trying to protect the old ways of doing things,” Bilski said.Huckle and Bilski have worked together for nearly 40 years, attending countless work events and conferences. Huckle said Bilski effectively blends his affable personality with technical expertise. “Mike is a pretty bold, visionary leader and industry expert,” Huckle said. “He tends to lead with abundant clarity and good humor.”Most importantly to Huckle, he sees Bilski as a good man and strong friend. “We enjoy coming together to work every day, discussing the bank and making strategic decisions,” he added.Huckle views Bilski as willing to take prudent, strategic risks, and empowering emerging leaders—supporting promotions with enthusiasm, support and a strong personal interest—to lay the groundwork for the bank’s expansion.Evidence of that is the lack of turnover at North American Banking Company. The bank’s first four employees—along with 11 of the first 13—are still on staff. Numerous employees have children who work for the bank.A lifelong bankerBilski’s banking career started in 1976 as a 16-year-old check sorter operator and lock box processing clerk. His family had played a significant role in Twin Cities banking over the previous generations. Bilski’s great-grandfather started a bank in 1939. His grandfather took over the bank 15 years later, with he and Bilski’s father, Gerald Bilski, also owning a processing business that at one point did computer processing for 43 banks.As a college student, Bilski worked for Norwest Corporation (now Wells Fargo) in the lockbox department. In the following years he worked for two banks that were later sold, including Mid-America Bank for six years, until it sold to Norwest Bank in 1992. Huckle, who had already known Bilski for a couple years, left Mid-America Bank to be senior credit officer at Princeton Bank, which sold to Bremer Bank in 1999.The then-president of Princeton Bank asked Huckle if he knew anyone who would be a strong candidate for the recently vacated CFO position. Immediately after the meeting, Huckle noticed a voicemail from Bilski saying he had just resigned and was looking for a new position. Bilski joined Princeton Bank as CFO, and the pair worked together for the next couple years before starting North American Banking Company in July 1998. The bank grew to more than $21 million in assets and $18 million in deposits by the end of the year.“When we started the bank, we were not even sure we wanted to put in telephone banking, because we thought we could see it was dying, but people still loved it,” Bilski said. “In the old days when you were moving paper, you had to have a lot of staff. ... When we had our own computer in the first couple years, we processed for other startup banks. They came to us and we set them up on our system.”North American Banking Company opened branches in five communities in the Twin Cities metro over the next 28 years: Minneapolis, in 2001; Hastings, in 2005; Woodbury, in 2006; Shoreview, in 2017; and Maple Grove, in 2022.Although Bilski said he would enjoy some of the benefits of retiring, he does not envision stepping away from his position in the immediate future. “I have no desire to retire,” he added. “I love golf. I love fishing. I love a bunch of things, but I could not do them every day. I have a pretty good job.”Bilski’s customers fuel his desire to continue working, from his love of learning about their businesses to making loans and watching their operations grow. “I never thought we would have over 100 employees [the bank has 107], never thought we would be this big,” he added. “I had an idea we could do ACH, but I still never thought it would get to where it is today.”