Associated Bank to open its new regional headquarters

Associated Bank is preparing to fortify its presence in the Madison area later this month as it opens a new four-story regional headquarters on the city's far West Side.

The new building, at 8040 Excelsior Drive, is the next step in the Green Bay company's rapid growth in the area following a takeover last year of First Federal. Parent company Associated Banc-Corp. bought First Federal Capital Corp. of La Crosse in October 2004 for $610 million in stock and cash. The purchase allowed Associated to increase its area branches from five to more than 24 at the time of the merger. That number has since risen to 33.

But company officials say Associated isn't done growing in the area and has plans to expand even further into other booming municipalities outside Madison. Despite having more local branches than any other bank, Associated was the third largest area bank by deposits with $950.5 million between June 2004 and June 2005, according to a report from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. That figure was an 8.9 percent drop from the combined, pre-merger deposits of Associated and First Federal.

AnchorBank is first in the Madison area by deposits and M&I is second.

Dave Stein, Associated's south-central region president, said the drop in deposits was an unavoidable consequence of the merger and since June, deposits from the south-central region's 37 branches (the federal report only included the 33 branches in the Madison statistical area) have risen back above $1 billion.

"Since that point the trajectory on the deposits side and on the loan side has been very strong and has definitely met our expectations," Stein said.

Associated will close its regional branch at 6300 University Ave., Middleton, on Dec. 16 and open the new location, which will also have regular banking services, on Dec. 19.

Madison's growing housing market, diverse business community and low unemployment rate made it an obvious choice for Associated, said Paul Beideman, the company's president and chief executive officer. "One of the things that attracted us to First Federal was its position in the Madison market," Beideman said. "We're very happy with our position."

The performance since the merger has been encouraging to bank officials and spurred plans for expanding into surrounding municipalities like Sun Prairie, Verona and Oregon.

"It's a very competitive environment," said Gary Schaefer, Associated's chief executive officer for the south-central region. "But with the investments we've made we have a chance to compete in this market at a much higher level than we have in the past."

Schaefer said that Associated has made significant investments into marketing, improved products and system enhancements in the Madison area. "The whole idea is to package all of this together so that we can be more competitive in a Madison market that is really being viewed by the company as (a high growth market)."

The merger initially resulted in the loss of 12 jobs in the Madison area. The company has since created about 25 jobs locally and 45 employees will be located at the new regional headquarters.

While the new building will allow the company to alleviate crowding in some of its offices, Schaefer said the its benefits go beyond just improving operations.

"It's going to increase visibility for us," Schaefer said. "It's also going to allow us to serve that part of Madison that we do not have branch coverage in."

Since the merger Associated's stock has traded at a high of $35.26, on Aug. 1, before falling to a low of $28.87 in mid-October. Since October it has been trending up and on Thursday closed at $33.23 on the Nasdaq, up 1.37 percent from Wednesday.

What are people saying about mortgages today:

Rates on 30-year mortgages edged down last week to a seven-month low. Mortgage-giant Freddie Mac reported Thursday that 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages fell to 6.3 percent, down slightly from 6.31 percent two weeks ago. It put rates at the lowest level since they were at 6.24 percent the first week of March.

Bank of Hawaii, Central Pacific Bank, Territorial Savings Bank and Wells Fargo Home Mortgages all cut their 30-year mortgage rates to 5.75 percent this week.

Most people think of a mortgage as a means to an end. After all, you buy a house, not a home loan. But a mortgage is much more than the path to homeownership. It is a financial instrument that must be managed, just like any other financial investment.