Great Southern Bank acquires failed Valley Bank

June 23--KNOXVILLE -- The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) officially closed Valley Bank at 5 p.m. Friday, June 20. At 5:01 p.m., Missouri-based Great Southern Bank took over the former Valley Bank assets, including those held in Knoxville.

Kris Carly, Vice President and Director of Retail Banking for Great Southern Bank, told the Journal-Express that Great Southern had been looking at Valley Bank ever since the FDIC placed Valley on its watch list of possible failures. That was between 30-45 days ago.

The minute after the FDIC closed Valley Bank, Great Southern took over all of its assets. Carly said customers' deposits, checks, debit cards, etc., are still safely functioning as if nothing had changed. Valley Bank's employees were also retained.

"Your money is right where it always was," Carly said.

It has been a busy morning for the bank, explaining the changes to its customers. Great Southern has workers inside their new banks in Knoxville and Oskaloosa today. In addition to these banks, Great Southern also acquired six banks in the Quad Cities. The bank already had 14 locations in the Sioux City area and six in Des Moines.

Great Southern has over $4 billion in assets, a presence in eight states, and has been in business for 93 years. Carly said Knoxville can expect the bank to be around for many years to come.

"The <location value="LS/us.ia" idsrc="xmltag.org">Iowa market is really a good fit for us," Carly said. "We're excited to be here."

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