From financial first responder to pillar of stability, this bank weathers century of storms

This paid piece is sponsored by The First National Bank in Sioux Falls.

If more than 135 years of doing business teaches you anything, it’s that every generation is tested. And with every test The First National Bank in Sioux Falls has faced, the bank’s FIRST Values have shone brightly through even the darkest hours.

The COVID-19 pandemic certainly proved to be one of those tests.

Imagine this scene. It’s 11 p.m. in downtown Sioux Falls. The streets are empty, and office windows are dark — all except for those at 100 S. Phillips Ave.

Inside, lights glowed as cross-functional teams worked to keep our community in business by processing Paycheck Protection Program loans.

Because the U.S. Small Business Administration and other federal government agencies lacked the resources to roll out such a massive and urgently needed program, they turned to community banks like First National to partner in this national rescue effort.

Early estimates place the pandemic’s total economic impact at over $8 trillion.

Restaurants and retail were crippled, and events were canceled or postponed indefinitely. In short, the local business community had just suffered the most massive blow since the financial crisis of 2008–09.

So First National Bank worked on hundreds of PPP loans all at once.

The bank’s team was spread out to observe social distancing rules for safety — and spread thin to provide lifelines to their customers. Most of their on-site teams arrived at the office before 6 a.m., ready to start processing applications and left well past dark.

One of the earliest challenges was processing loans without total clarity from the Treasury Department and SBA. But the reality was, there were customers trying to keep their businesses operating and staff paid, and First National was unwilling to let them sit and wait until the government finally provided rules.

The process was almost like building a city from scratch.

They were starting with empty fields and had to design, execute and coordinate intricate plans at a rapid pace.

One team drew up the blueprints while the other built the roads. It was tireless collaboration at its finest.

At the end of day one, on the night of April 3, 2020, the bank turned out its lights at 1:30 a.m. — everyone exhausted but filled with a sense of accomplishment at having processed over 190 applications.

The intense urgency came from the limited pool of money available in the first round of funding. The application deadlines were real and immovable.

This meant documentation had to be organized, gathered and input at a breakneck pace. In multiple instances, this meant teammates were on the phone with customers late into the evening, finalizing details so applications would be accepted.

Team members even went so far as to meet customers at socially safe distances in the parking lot well past closing time to gather last-minute documents.

By the time the bank’s “Hub” team had worked through the initial round of their PPP program, during an extraordinary period of time, First National had:

• Provided $101 million in Paycheck Protection Program loans.
• Served 923 businesses.
• Helped keep over 10,700 small-business employees on payroll.

Meanwhile, the pandemic transformed the way people work.

Suddenly, the bank went from hundreds of employees and customers working together, on-site every day, to rolling out an entire remote-working program.

First National Bank teammates are set up for remote work in March 2020.

As America’s financial “first responders,” the team at First National Bank shows up for each other, their customers and the community.

Every generation tested

For former CEO Bill Baker, his testing began  Sept. 15, 2008, when Wall Street’s Lehman Brothers collapsed, and the Great Recession officially began. Suddenly, the world changed.

One by one, all the major Wall Street investment houses began to fold or merge with a bank to survive. The world as we knew it changed overnight.

Bank failures plagued the headlines for two years, with hundreds closing without warning. And this doesn’t even count the consolidations.

The industry was cut to half the number, and no financial institution escaped challenges. However, you couldn’t advertise them because you had to maintain confidence.

During the years leading up to the financial crisis, First National had set aside funds to undertake a construction project that would vertically expand the bank’s downtown headquarters.

As the team met and survival was the primary concern, they immediately took that money and put it back on the balance sheet.

In terms of growth and new development, the bank stood still for a time. Locally, these were difficult years, especially in 2009 when the recession settled into Sioux Falls with full effect.

During this downturn, a high view of teamwork was reinforced.

Rather than relying on a single leader, the most enduring organizations can bring together their best thinking on any given day for any given crisis. This also develops shared trust and experience to weather the inevitable difficulties ahead.

While no one can predict exactly when challenging times will come, or what they will be, it’s a certainty that they’ll come again. But high-performing teams like that of First National Bank are well prepared to shoulder the burden together.

In 1985, the leadership team at First National Bank celebrates 100 years of “building successful relationships.”

To learn more about the surprising history of The First National Bank in Sioux Falls, check out the rest of this series!