What does it mean that Security Bank Minnesota is employee owned?

The bank is owned through an ESOP, an employee stock ownership plan. The people who take your call, approve your loan and count your drawer hold a stake in the bank. There is no outside parent company and no distant shareholder. We made the change in 2006.

How long has Security Bank Minnesota been in business?

The charter was established in 1906 in Manchester, Minnesota, as Manchester State Bank. That is 120 years. The bank moved to Bridge Avenue in Albert Lea in 1946 and has operated on that site ever since.

Where are the Security Bank Minnesota branches?

Three locations in southern Minnesota. Albert Lea at 437 Bridge Ave. Alden at 195 North Broadway. Emmons at 201 Main St.

Are deposits at Security Bank Minnesota insured?

Yes. Security Bank Minnesota is a Member FDIC institution and an Equal Housing Lender.

Does Security Bank Minnesota make farm loans?

Yes. Ag lending is a full line of business, not a sideline. Operating loans, equipment, and real estate for farms in Freeborn County and the surrounding area.

Can I open a Security Bank Minnesota account without coming in?

Applications and account forms are on the site, and anything needing a signature is finished at whichever branch suits you. Most accounts take a single visit.

Freeborn County, Minnesota · Charter established 1906 · Volume 120

Owned by the people who serve you.

Not a slogan. A structure. The teller, the loan officer and the person who answers the phone all hold a stake in this bank.

In 2006 we turned one hundred years old, and in the same year we handed the bank to the people who run it. At the time there was one other employee owned bank in Minnesota and two others in the entire country.

Twenty years on, that is still what makes us different from the bank across the street. When you sit down with someone here, you are sitting down with an owner. Nobody is waiting on a decision from a head office three states away, because there is no head office three states away.

Personal Banking Business Banking

We lend against ground we have driven past.

Ag lending is a full line of business here, not a favor. Operating notes, equipment and farm real estate across Freeborn County. Detasseling near New Ulm, Minnesota · National Archives

The year we became employee owned

Employee owned banks in the United States in 2006. We were one of them.

Most banks say they are community minded. We had it written into who owns the place.

An ESOP is not a marketing program. It is a legal ownership structure, and ours has been in place for twenty years. It means the person helping you is not working toward a quarterly target set somewhere else. They are working on something they own a piece of.

Read the whole record

Where would you like to start

Three ways in.

Personal

Checking and savings without a maze of fine print. Certificates, IRAs, debit cards, online banking and bill pay. The VIC Club for our very important citizens.

Personal banking

Business

Business checking and savings, certificates, cash management and remote deposit capture. Decisions get made here, by people you can drive to and sit across from.

Business banking

Lending & Ag

Home, home equity and home improvement. Auto and personal. Business loans and the Security PLUS line of credit. Farm lending as a real line of business, not a sideline.

Lending & ag

A hundred and twenty years on the same errand

1906 to now.

The charter was granted in Manchester, Minnesota, four years before the county fair moved to Albert Lea. The bank arrived on Bridge Avenue in 1946 and has not moved since. Everything else on this list happened while somebody’s family banked here.

The full record

1906 Chartered in Manchester, Minnesota, as Manchester State Bank.
1946 Moved to the north side of Albert Lea, onto Bridge Avenue. That side of town had gone fourteen years without a bank.
1981 The Bridge Avenue building tripled in size. The grand opening ran two days that June.
2006 One hundred years old, and the year the staff became the owners.
2016 Alden joined Albert Lea and Emmons, making three.

Where to find us

Three towns. Three front doors.

Albert Lea

437 Bridge Ave., Albert Lea, MN 56007
507.373.1481

Alden

195 North Broadway, Alden, MN 56009
507.874.3363

Emmons

201 Main St., Emmons, MN 56029
507.297.5461

Questions we get asked

Plainly answered.

What does employee owned actually mean here?

It means the bank is owned through an ESOP, an employee stock ownership plan. The people who take your call, approve your loan and count the drawer hold a stake in the bank itself. There is no outside parent company and no distant shareholder to satisfy. We made the change in 2006.
How long have you been here?

The charter dates to 1906, which makes this the bank’s 120th year. We have been on Bridge Avenue in Albert Lea since 1946.
Are my deposits insured?

Yes. Security Bank Minnesota is a Member FDIC institution and an Equal Housing Lender.
Do you make farm loans?

Yes, and not as a favor. Ag lending is a full line of business here: operating loans, equipment and real estate for farms in Freeborn County and the country around it.
Can I open an account without coming in?

Applications and account forms are on the site, and we will finish anything that needs a signature at whichever branch suits you. Most accounts take a single visit.

Open an account

Come in. Or start from here.

Applications and account forms are on the site. If you would rather do it across a desk, all three lobbies are open and nobody will hurry you.

Talk to someone See the rates