Acquisition results in fifth-largest bank in Colorado

UMB Financial Corp. has acquired Heartland Financial USA Inc., making it the fifth-largest bank in Colorado.

The acquisition includes 13 brands that give UMB 24 branches in Colorado Springs and  21 Denver locations. UMB now employs 373 people statewide, including 138 in Denver.

UMB now has a presence in 13 states and assets valued at about $68 billion. States added to UMB’s footprint are California, Iowa, Minnesota, New Mexico and Wisconsin. It gains 104 new branches and 115 ATMs, giving it a total of 197 banking centers and 350 ATMs.

“This completes the middle part of the map, from the Upper Midwest to the West to California and the Southwest,” said Mariner Kemper, chairman and CEO of UMB Financial Corp.

The acquisition also increases UMB’s private wealth management assets under management/assets under advisement by 32% to more than $20 billion.

“What the acquisition means for Colorado is more liquidity, more capital, more resources,” said Kemper, who is the fourth generation of his family to run the company. “We’ll be able to lend more to the community.”

UMB’s new branches, including Citywide Banks in Colorado, will operate just as they have been through October, when everything will change to UMB, Kemper said. UMB only plans to close one Citywide Bank that is next-door to an existing UMB Bank.

Heartland’s customer-facing employees will continue to work for UMB, though its corporate officers in redundant roles are no longer with UMB.

UMB offers a number of products and services that Heartland did not provide its customers, including a balance sheet mortgage program and down payment assistance program, Kemper said.

“We help first-time homeowners and families and people who have decent jobs but don’t have generational wealth to put money down on their homes,” Kemper said.

UMB invests in the communities it does business in and is in the process of finalizing its Community Benefits Agreement, which will outline how it will provide support throughout its expanded footprint. UMB is working with the staff of the banks it acquired in communities to develop a plan for adding value.

“UMB is a very philanthropic, committed institution, so there’s not a lot of work to do,” Kemper said. “It’s more confirming and validating than doing more. We’re just demonstrating that they’re gaining and not losing.”

The bank earns about 40% of its revenue by providing services that many of its competitors don’t offer, Kemper said, including asset servicing, corporate trust solutions, investment banking and health care services. It is the fifth-largest provider of health savings accounts (HSAs) in the country with 1.3 million accounts, Kemper said.

“On a combined basis, we’re a bigger bank with more resources to deliver to the Colorado market,” Kemper said.