Wings FCU Buys 3 Minneapolis Bank Branches

Minnesota’s largest credit union filled in some gaps in its branch network in July as it bought three branches from a bank preparing to be acquired.

Wings Financial Credit Union of Apple Valley ($4.8 billion in assets, 245,289 members) paid an undisclosed amount for the KleinBank branches and the accounts associated with them. The deal, which closed July 20, added about 4,000 members in Minneapolis’ northwest suburbs of Coon Rapids, Otsego and Plymouth, Brent Andersen, Wings FCU’s vice president of marketing, said.

With the additional branches, Wings Financial now has 20 locations in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.

“It allows us to bring significant convenience to our members and potential members” in the area,” Andersen said.

Old National Bancorp based in Evansville, Ind., announced June 21 that it plans to buy Klein Financial, Inc., the parent of KleinBank, through a stock deal then worth about $434 million. At the time, KleinBank had 18 full-service branches.

The deal will leave Old National with roughly $3.5 billion in deposits in Minnesota, giving it the fifth-largest market share in both the Minneapolis metro area and the state.

Wings Financial President/ CEO Frank Weidner said the credit union was already looking to expand in the northwest suburbs.

“These branches are a great fit for us,” Weidner said. “These locations will make our services more convenient than ever to thousands of Wings members living and working in the northwest metro.”

The 80-year-old credit union’s membership has grown to include anyone who lives or works in the 13-county Minneapolis–St. Paul metro area and the aviation industry nationwide.