Stockman Bank goes live in Plains

Rocky Mountain Bank in Plains closed its doors at noon on Friday - an end of an era for the financial institution - but the beginning of Stockman banking in Plains.

Stockman Bank added three western Montana banks to its collection of branches throughout the state, including Plains, Bigfork and Kalispell. Over the past weeks, Stockman Bank staffers have been dispatched to the Plains bank to help employees and customers with the transition. They will continue to have additional help over the next couple of weeks. On Friday, a Kalispell locksmith changed the entrance locks and a Billings company switched out the five Rocky Mountain Banks to Stockman Bank.

It took Mark Wollenburg and his crew of seven from Epcon Sign Group more than six hours to remove the Rocky Mountain Bank signs and replace them with the Stockman ones. The reader board on the corner of Railroad and Willis Streets took over three hours because workers had trouble getting the old sign removed. The crew finished by taking down the 30-foot, 20-inch Rocky Bank sign and putting up the near 19-foot long Stockman Bank sign.

"I think it's going pretty smooth. It's a complex project and there have been hiccups, but we've tackled them as they came," said Jeremy Morgret, the chief of branch supervision in Billings. Several Stockman Bank employees from Billings and Missoula were on hand in Plains to assist Rocky Mountain Bank staffers with the transition. Stockman added four permanent positions to the Plains branch.

Stockman Bank has 41 branches throughout Montana. It also has offices of wealth management and insurance. The history of Stockman Bank began in 1953 in Miles City, where it still has two bank branches and an insurance branch. In Billings, it has five bank branches. It has three in Missoula.

Rocky Mountain Bank has a long history of service in Plains, tracing its roots back to the First Security Bank in 1904. The Rocky Mountain Bank name in Plains came in 1993. Its present building was erected in 2003.

"We're most excited about the employees that we've acquired and we're excited about serving more Montana communities," said Morgret. At Plains, Erika Carter will serve as the branch manager. Bob Burns is the market president for Missoula and Plains.