Following Grand Mountain Bank’s recent merger announcement, the company’s president said he’s confident the merger will only improve services.
This week, Grand Mountain Bancshares, the holding company for Grand Mountain Bank, announced the company intends to merge with BayCom Corp, the holding company for United Business Bank.
“We’re talking about a community bank acquiring another community bank,” said Frank DeLay, president of Grand Mountain Bank. “The board wanted someone who was similar to the way we do business, and they found that in United Business Bank.”
As planned, BayCom would acquire Grand Mountain Bancshares through the agreement and merge Grand Mountain Bank with and into BayCom and United Business Bank. The closing is expected in the first quarter of 2020.
DeLay said the company doesn’t anticipate a change in frontline staff at the banks, so customers will continue working with the same employees. He also noted that the merger won’t require the company to change account numbers.
“They want to keep everything as much the same as possible so the customers really won’t see any changes to the way they’re doing business currently,” DeLay said. “As we add some of these new bells and whistles, (customers) will see those and have the opportunity to take advantage of that.”
Through the merger, Grand Mountain Bank hopes to improve services, such as by adding the ability to deposit checks online and rolling out new technology. Customers will also have access to 11 branches in Colorado, along with other locations in New Mexico, California and Washington.
One of the biggest opportunities for Grand Mountain Bank is the ability to lend more money and offer new business loan products, including SBA and USDA loans. DeLay said this will help the bank better support local growth.
“Given the market we’re in in Grand County, we can’t even participate in a lot of the projects going on, especially in Winter Park, that just require a larger lending limit,” DeLay said. “By partnering with a larger bank, it helps us with that process so we can make larger loans.”
The agreement is subject to customary conditions, including regulatory approval and approval by the shareholders of Grand Mountain Bancshares. DeLay explained that following the merger, shareholders would be paid out through a cash transaction, including the roughly 75 shareholders living in Grand County.
Overall, DeLay emphasized that Grand Mountain Bank chose to merge with United Business Bank because it allows the business to grow while maintaining close ties to the community and keeping services local.
Grand Mountain Bank has locations in Fraser, Granby, Grand Lake, Kremmling and Frisco.