Kansas Bankers Association’s 2023 Pioneer Award and the American Bankers Association’s prestigious Bruning Award, recognizing lifetime achievement in agricultural banking. He previously chaired both the Kansas Bankers Association and the Kansas Banking Commission. “Our bank operates in 11 different communities, and those communities range from towns of 250 people, believe it or not, to about 50,000,” Wolfe explains. “The basic model is that we collect local deposits, and we convert those local deposits into loans within our communities to help the local economies within those communities and counties that we’re in.” The bank operates with 100 employees across Marshall, Nemaha, Brown, Clay, Washington, Cloud, and Riley counties, making it one of the 20 largest banks in Kansas. The threat to the community banking model comes from multiple directions. Credit unions, large banks like Wells Fargo operating through agents such as Edward Jones, and particularly the Farm Credit System present ongoing challenges. “Those deposits are being taken out of our communities and there’s no interest from those deposit gathering places to ever reinvest those dollars back into our communities,” Wolfe says. The Farm Credit System, which has provided agricultural financing since 1916, operates as a government-subsidized entity paying no federal or state taxes. A 21-YEAR LEGACY OF COMMUNITY INVESTMENT United Bank & Trust takes its role as a corporate citizen seriously, translating philosophy into measurable action. Since the bank’s creation in 2004, the institution has contributed more than $4.1 million to the communities it serves. “Our bank typically contributes through local events, sponsorships, and community donations for projects like hospital expansions, playgrounds, things of that nature,” Wolfe says. The contributions flow into tangible improvements that residents can see and use daily. Hospital wings that expand healthcare access, playgrounds where children gather after school, and community facilities that anchor smalltown life all bear the fingerprints of the bank’s investment strategy. In counties where property tax revenue depends partly on local business activity, the bank’s presence matters. Unlike the Farm Credit System, which pays no federal or state taxes despite serving similar markets, United Bank & Trust contributes to the tax base that funds schools, roads, and emergency services. As Vice Chairman of the ABA’s Agricultural Credit Task Force, Wolfe testified before the House Agriculture Committee in 2014 to spotlight these inequities. “They don’t pay any taxes, so there’s nothing that helps support our local communities 129 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 12, ISSUE 11 UNITED BANK & TRUST
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