Business View Magazine | Volume 9, Issue 1

78 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 9, ISSUE 1 PPP loans worth $55 million, of which close to 100% have been forgiven through the PPP forgiveness program. Jacobson reports, “Because of the program, everybody kept making their payments, and we saw no past dues throughout the height of the COVID period from all the clients who accepted the PPP loans, with only a handful of customers inquiring about our mortgage forbearance program.” At $900 million in current assets, the bank is close to becoming a billion-dollar bank, a threshold Jacobson sees as a defining moment in the bank’s future. Speaking candidly about the excitement and the growth pains, he admits, “We are running close to the billion-dollar mark, which to us is an indication that it’s time to grow exponentially. However, one of the challenges we will face with this trajectory is finding quality staff at scale to cater to a billion-dollar bank’s additional regulatory and audit requirements. When you are growing that fast, it is not enough to hire people one at a time, so one of the avenues we are looking at is acquiring smaller institutions that fit into our strategic plan.” Speaking about the future, COO Schroll states, “Maintaining the same culture will be pivotal to helping the bank maintain its growth and meet its billion-dollar bank objectives. We have a very respected culture throughout our industry. It is well defined, and we celebrate it every week, so culture will be key to meeting and exceeding those goals.” PREFERRED VENDOR/ PARTNER n Nebraska Independent Community Bankers www.nicbonline.com