Latest / Rick Outzen: (we don’t) color on the dog / Gulf Winds' Second Acquisition in a Year
Transcript
- Rick Outzen: Welcome to We Don't Color on the Dog. Big news today with Gulf Winds. We have Daniel Sauer, CEO and president on the sh on the show right now. Acquired people exchange bank in Monroville. Tell us this is exciting, isn't it? Daniel Souers: This is really exciting for us, our team, and their team, and I think even the especially the community of Monroeville. So this is a an amazing financial institution that's been around since 1907. And this is allowing a community bank that has done an amazing job for the community to partner with a a a strong credit union in the same market, be able to do some really cool stuff together. So Rick Outzen: Well, this is the second bank acquisition, d by cr only the first time this ever happened in one year for a credit union. w why take on this aggressive pace? Daniel Souers: Yeah, so that so other credit credit unions have done this before, but for twenty twenty six, we're the first to announce this for tw the year of twenty twenty-six. And so Rick Outzen: huh. okay. Daniel Souers: it it and it is it is pretty quick. So 30 days ago we announced the other one and now we're announcing this other one. And it's it's it's it's a lot of work that happened behind the scenes. So you're seeing the efforts of four years of us working to make this happen. to to have have this all happen at one time. Rick Outzen: Well, kinda walk me through this. Why Monroville? What was what had attracted you know, your team to to to go into Monroville? Daniel Souers: Well a couple different reasons. One, you know, this was a great, great financial institution, a great community bank. We got to see them from across the street. Literally our branch and their branch is two miles, well I'm sorry, two minutes from each other. And so we got to see them in action. They really care about the community. So this was about, you know, two winning teams coming together and making a really strong team. So I think it was first the people we saw, we saw a str a really strong financial institution. And then two for us, you know, it allowed us to it allowed us to move from the building we have now, which is a small little building, small little parking lot, and it's a pretty busy branch. And we knew we had to expand. So this building is an amazing three-story building, very beautiful. and and it moves our branch right across you know two two minutes away but a a three-story building that's really nice for our for our members and and their customers. Rick Outzen: What does this do for for for the you know, for people's exchange customers? What do they get out of this deal? Daniel Souers: People's Exchange, you know, they already have a great team. They already have People's Exchange has great relationships with their with their with their bank. But what they get from this is they get the technology of Gulf Wind, Soon to Be TrueWorth. And because we're really investing in a lot of our digital platforms, and so we they they get that overnight, they get that technology. In addition, you know, we've got we're in three different regions. So now these these customers and soon-to-be members can bank on the go acros as they go across three different regions. So they have a lot more accessibility to their money. Rick Outzen: All right, so let's flip it the other way, Daniel. What does this do for your Pensacola customers? What did th what will they see? Daniel Souers: Yeah, so th so from a commercial banking perspective, or small business perspective, the this Monroville bank, community bank, is really good at commercial banking. So overnight, the Pensacola market now has access to those resources, those that team. And and as we expand in Pensacola these products and services, we've got the expertise right there. So Madison County had that, and so does Monroville. Both both groups. both groups have have that expertise that we we just didn't have. And it was Rick Outzen: Yeah. Daniel Souers: a matter of, you know, do we go out and build it? And it takes us five years to get there, or do we buy it? And then now we have that ability overnight to be able to offer that to our members. At the end of the day, you know, with our new branding, we want to see the true worth of our members. And many of our members want to get into bank and to do their business with us. They do their business somewhere else. And they've told us over and over, when are you guys gonna get into commercial banking? Because we wanna do our work with you. And we've we've gotten into a little bit. We we we definitely have, we've got some good people on our team, but this just adds a a much deeper bench that we have that capability of serving our principal market. Rick Outzen: Well, let's walk through you, you know, Madison County. Gosh, the last time we did this a couple not that long ago, we we had the interview with Madison County and and the True Worth brand name is was rolled out then. How does how do the next, I guess, eighteen months look for you? Daniel Souers: Yeah, well, first of all, it's a lot of excitement. I mean, if you Rick Outzen: Mm-hmm. Daniel Souers: if you could be here right now, you would see the buzzing excitement. You know, a lot of team memb team members that knew about this for a while, that were working on this, some that have been working on this, this these projects for for over a couple years. Now they can publicly say, Okay, this was the effort of our work. This is exciting. And so you've got that excitement that's coming. And I think on the on both banks side as well, you've got that excitement of what we can do together, the the just the potential that we have together. And then you know there's there's a lot of work that goes into this. So there's a lot of planning that we've already done, and there's more planning we need to continue to do so that when we come together, this is a seamless integration for for all institutions. Now the Gulf Winds members They're not going to see any impact from an operational Rick Outzen: Mm-hmm. Daniel Souers: standpoint because we're coming to our systems. There will be some operational impact to the two banks, but it'll be brief. It'll be very focused and it's very planned so that it's so that there's there's a there's an amazing benefit on the other side of capabilities once that does happen. Rick Outzen: Well, you th you know, we know the the regulatory side, it would seem, and and you can tell me if I'm wrong, but you're you're, you know, merging two banks in, you go through the first process with Madison, it should make the second process smoother, does it, or does it not? Daniel Souers: Well, yeah, I mean I mean that's I mean that's what that's what really interests us in this idea of doing two really quickly together was that hey you're gonna do it, you're gonna build systems, you're gonna plan everything out, you're gonna have the operational team all spun up. Let's do one and then the other. and then from a regulatory standpoint, you know, we've been talking to our regulators for some time, letting them know that this is coming. First of all, it's been our strategic plan for over four years. Rick Outzen: Mm-hmm. Daniel Souers: we've been working on this, we've been building the infrastructure. last time I told you we've added about 80 people from when I started four years ago till today. And that's a lot of the effort and tools because we knew we were gonna grow. We knew we were gonna be more sophisticated, we knew we were gonna have more products and services and and grow and expand in our market. We knew all that, so we planned for it. And so because of that, we've got really great relationship with our regulators because they see how well run we are as a financial institution and also how well capitalized we are. we're very we've always been very strong financially capital institution that's safe for their members to put money. And because of that, that allows us to do things like this. that that expands our capabilities even more in in a faster rate. Rick Outzen: So are you gonna take a break a little bit from you know Daniel Souers: Yeah. Rick Outzen: catch your breath? I I don't want you to lay if there's another one coming, I'm ready for it. We we've worked out Daniel Souers: Yeah, I understand. Rick Outzen: this technology is in in in revealing it, but your team this is just amazing, Daniel. It really is. Daniel Souers: We've got an amazing team. there's no way we could do this without the team that we have and the capabilities that our team, we've either, you know, hiring people into the organization have that capability or or developing it from the ground up. at tr soon to be true worth. And so you know, we mergers and acquisitions is something that's gonna be a big part of our roadmap. I think there's gonna be a lot of consolidation in the in the industry in the next five Rick Outzen: Mm-hmm. Daniel Souers: to ten years. And you know, a lot of times, you know, a lot of times it makes sense. It doesn't always make sense. but and we want to support any any credit union or community bank that that wants to go it on their own, we we're in support of that. We want to support them and whatever we can do to help them, we want to help them. But whenever a community bank or credit union says, you know what, we think we could do even more together. Let's let's jump on let's let's jump on this and let's do some stuff together. I think I I'm a big believer in people and the capabilities of when you bring together a team, you can accomplish way more together. And so I think, you know, the right partners definitely open to it and excited about what the future is in store for for TrueWorth Credit Union. Rick Outzen: Well, you've got my phone number. So I'm ready for the next announcement as soon as you are. But congratulations. Daniel Souers: Ha ha ha. Rick Outzen: Thank you so much for coming on, Daniel. Daniel Souers: Thank you, sir. Appreciate ya. Rick Outzen: Same here.