Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
New Mexico Bank & Trust announced Friday it would extend the closing date of its Logan branch by another six months, giving local leaders more time to find another banking tenant there.
A spokeswoman for New Mexico Bank & Trust’s main office in Albuquerque stated in an email the closing of its Logan branch along U.S. 54 would occur Dec. 14 instead of the previously planned June 10.
Local leaders had lobbied New Mexico Bank & Trust to reconsider its decision or delay the closing the Logan site. The shuttering of the Logan branch would leave the village without a bank for the first time in more than a century.
Entities that included the Tucumcari and Logan school boards, Quay County Commission, Arch Hurley Conservancy District, Mesalands Community College board of trustees and the village boards of Logan and San Jon each passed resolutions opposing the branch’s closing. The Tucumcari City Commission is scheduled to vote on such a resolution this week.
Quay County Commission Chairman Franklin McCasland, state Rep. Jack Chatfield (R-Mosquero) and Logan attorney Warren Frost also met with New Mexico Bank & Trust President and CEO Greg Leyendecker at his Albuquerque office to make their case. Chatfield and Frost each said the previous week they had the impression Leyendecker wouldn’t back off from the closing but signaled a willingness to delay it.
That impression turned out to be accurate.
“New Mexico Bank & Trust appreciates the outpouring of support we have received from Logan and neighboring community members for our Logan Banking Center. As a full-service relationship bank, the communities we serve are vitally important to us and your voices have been heard,” Leyendecker stated in an email Friday.
“Our decision to extend the closure of our Logan location to December 14, 2022, will give community leaders time to find another financial institution to service Logan and surrounding areas and also enable us to determine better ways to serve the market area from our Tucumcari Banking Center.”
Frost said he received word of the delay in the Logan branch’s closing late Friday morning.
“We’ve really been heartened by the people of Quay County and all its entities,” he said. “And we appreciate New Mexico Bank & Trust giving us the extra time.”
New Mexico Bank & Trust announced earlier this month it would close its Logan branch, less than 18 months after the entity acquired it and several other banks in the region from FNB-New Mexico.
Leyendecker stated in an earlier email the Logan branch’s closing “followed a careful evaluation of many factors, including operating expenses, employee resources and proximity to alternate locations.”
“We’ve informed our employees, all who have the opportunity to relocate or apply for open positions within the organization, and we are beginning to notify impacted customers,” he stated.
New Mexico Bank & Trust is a subsidiary of Iowa-based HTLF, formerly known as Heartland Financial USA Inc., that operates in 12 states. Quay County entities have about $40 million deposited in New Mexico Bank & Trust sites.
The planned closing of the Logan branch had several local officials wondering aloud whether the Tucumcari branch or other locations in eastern New Mexico were on the chopping block, as well.
The Quay County Sun asked Leyendecker by email last week whether New Mexico Bank & Trust was considering closing its Tucumcari branch or other branches in the region.
“No,” he replied.