St. Paul Bank for Cooperatives
St. Paul Bank
for Cooperatives is a customer-owned cooperative bank that provides a variety
of loans and financial services to agricultural cooperatives and other
eligible organizations, such as rural electric and telecommunications systems.
The bank’s founder established that the role for St. Paul Bank was to “help
build sound, well-managed, properly financed cooperative associations”
(Johnson). It acts as a business support system for cooperatives.
St. Paul Bank is part of the $84 billion U.S. Farm Credit System, a national
network of farmer-owned financial institutions. The bank was one
of thirteen Banks for Cooperatives created by the Farm Credit System in
1933 (CoBank). It has 600 customers in 26 states, although its primary
service area is the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes states. Its main
office is in St. Paul, Minnesota. The bank also has branch offices
located in Fargo, North Dakota, and Mankato, Minnesota (Marketplace).
St. Paul Bank
has been involved in the start-up of many new generation cooperatives,
and its leadership has been noted as a major reason for the increased cooperative
activity that took place in the 1990s. Its management has been helpful
in educating potential start-ups about the challenges and requirements
involved in forming a cooperative, speaking at various seminars and conferences,
and writing articles for cooperative publications. The expertise
of several of the bank’s loan officers has also been noted as a key reason
for its popularity with new generation cooperatives (Patrie).
In 1999, the
stockholders of St. Paul Bank for Cooperatives approved a plan to merge
the bank with CoBank, another bank within the Farm Credit System.
CoBank is a much larger operation. It was created in 1989 when eleven
of the Farm Credit System’s thirteen Bank for Cooperatives consolidated
into one operation. The twelfth Bank for Cooperatives consolidated
with CoBank in 1995 (CoBank). Thus, St. Paul Bank for Cooperatives
represents the last of the original Bank for Cooperatives to merge into
CoBank.
References
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