Submitted photo Katie Nosbush, United Prairie Bank; Bob Reuter, Alliance Bank; Jan DeLeo, Sid’s Signs on Broadway; Karissa Schlottman, Farmers Insurance.

NEW ULM — Everyone has been affected by the pandemic, but Alliance Bank in New Ulm did not let it stop their plans of building a new bank. The Willkommen Committee of the New Ulm Area Chamber of Commerce received a warm welcome and celebrated the new building with a ribbon cutting ceremony! Bob Reuter, President of Alliance Bank, joined the committee and told them all about the beautiful new building. Starting with the more convenient parking lot, easier accessibility for all customers, and customer space separate from working offices. There are 2 floors in the new building but everything customer related is handled on the main level. This is the best bonus for their customers, as some did have to take the stairs in the old building for some banking needs. Another interesting aspect for the bank is that the new building became the operating hub for all of Alliance Bank. Previously loan operations had 48 employees spread out between 4 buildings, including a building in Courtland that was donated to the city. All of the loan operations, deposits, finance, between all of their 6 locations, also now all go through the New Ulm bank. This created new operations positions in New Ulm and created growth opportunities for their employees. Alliance Bank also has locations in downtown St. Paul, Red Wing, Madelia, Hanska and Lake City. The final move to the new bank was on September 11th of 2020, when they closed the bank for the day, what was left in the old building got moved over the weekend and then they opened up on Monday in the new bank. Bob highlighted that the success of the bank is mainly due to dedicated employees and great customers.