Being recognized once is an honor. Being recognized five years in a row gives us an even bigger reason to stop and say thank you.
 
Minnesota National Bank was recently named a Banky™ Award winner for the fifth consecutive year by The Institute for Extraordinary Banking™. This year, our local community bank was also recognized in four individual categories for philanthropy, financial education, workplace culture and thought leadership.

The awards reflect the work happening every day in Sauk Centre, Long Prairie and Pelican Rapids - the communities our teammates call home and the places our customers have trusted us to serve.

Community Banking Goes Beyond Banking

To us, being a local bank has always meant more than providing checking accounts, savings accounts, home loans, business loans and other financial services. It means being involved.

Our teammates are encouraged to give their time to organizations and causes throughout our communities through our Teammate Service Program. Programs such as Jean Machine create opportunities for teammates to give financially, while events including Food Truck Friday help bring local businesses, nonprofit organizations and community members together.
 
These efforts aren't something we do to earn recognition. They're simply part of what we believe a community bank should be: a neighbor that participates, contributes and helps strengthen the places we all share.
 
Helping Build Financial Confidence
 
Good banking relationships shouldn't begin and end with a transaction.
 
We believe a local bank can also be a resource for financial education and financial wellness - whether someone is learning about money for the first time, starting a business, protecting an established business from fraud or simply trying to make more informed financial decisions.
 
That commitment has led our team to support programs including the West Stearns CEO high school entrepreneurship program, Financial Peace University and a new partnership with Junior Achievement focused on teaching grade-school students about community and financial literacy.
 
For local business owners and community members, we have also continued to create educational opportunities around fraud prevention, cash management and other topics through programs such as Donuts and Discussion and Core Conversations.
 
Our goal is simple: help people feel a little more informed and confident about the financial decisions in front of them.

Local People Serving Local People

One of the greatest strengths of community banking is that the people helping you often understand the community because they live here, too.

Our roughly 60 teammates serve across three Minnesota communities, and the culture behind that team was another area recognized through this year's awards. Continuous training and an employee-led culture team help us stay focused on providing the kind of personal, relationship-based service people expect from a local bank.
 
That matters whether you're opening your first checking account, financing a home, growing a farm or small business, looking for ways to protect against fraud, or simply looking for a banker who will take the time to listen.
 

The Credit Belongs to Our Communities

The fifth consecutive Banky™ Award is something we're proud to celebrate, but we know recognition like this doesn't happen in a vacuum.

It happens because customers continue to trust us.
 
It happens because local businesses invite us to be part of their plans.
 
It happens because schools, nonprofits and community organizations allow our teammates to get involved.
And it happens because our teammates continue to show up - not only for our customers, but for the communities where they live and work.
 
As CEO Steve Jennings shared following the awards, the recognition belongs to the teammates who build our culture, teach neighbors about financial wellness, give their time and talents to their communities and continually look for better ways to serve customers.
 
So while five consecutive national recognitions are certainly worth celebrating, what we're most grateful for is what stands behind them: local relationships, community involvement and the trust of the people we serve.
Thank you to Sauk Centre, Long Prairie, Pelican Rapids and the surrounding communities for allowing us to be your local community bank.
 
We're honored to be here - and we're looking forward to continuing the work.