When Union Bank opened as Minnesota’s only union-owned bank 40 years ago, the average new home cost $43,400 and interest on a 30-year mortgage hovered around 8.76 percent. The Dow Jones Average was around 1,000 and the average American earned $16,000 a year. A brand new Chevy Impala sedan cost less than a dollar a pound—you could buy 3625 pounds of car for $2592.
Average incomes have more than tripled to $53,000 (2014 data), the Dow Jones average now tops 17,000 and that new Impala costs upwards of $27,000 - at least 10 times more than it did in 1976 - although the weight hasn’t changed much. The $1 million in deposits Union Bank had when it opened have grown to $125 million and the bank’s trust department, founded in 1982, now manages more than $7 billion in pension funds,
As it celebrates its 40th Anniversary, Union Bank & Trust is still Minnesota’s only state-chartered, FDIC insured, union-owned commercial bank. In the wake of the Great Recession, Union Bank and Trust officers are proud that they never required the assistance (TARP funds) that the federal government made available to troubled banks.
“For 40 years we’ve worked hard for working people in the community” said UBT President Jeff Schrempp. “Our anniversary goal is to continue as one of Minnesota’s leading independent banks for another 40 years.”