September 02, 2009

BankFirst, which less than a decade ago employed nearly 800 in Sioux Falls, became the first FDIC-insured bank to be closed in South Dakota since 1992 when it was shut down by state and federal regulators in July. Yankton, SD-based First Dakota National Bank took over BankFirst’s Sioux Falls branch and its local deposits, while Grand Forks, ND-based Alerus Financial took over BankFirst’s Minneapolis branch.

While BankFirst’s closing is sobering news to bankers in the region, banking officials say the region’s financial services industry is solid and most banks are doing well in the face of a spate of bank failures across the country.This is the first bank failure we’ve had in decades,” says Curtis Everson, president of the Pierre, SD-based South Dakota Bankers Association.