By Casey Jarmes | The News-Review
SIGOURNEY – On Oct. 17, Sigourney-based bank County Bank was acquired by Fidelity Bank and Trust, a Dubuque-based chain. An open house and ribbon cutting was held on Dec. 19. After acquiring County Bank’s branches, Fidelity now has 38 branches, mostly in Iowa.
“I think the really cool thing about Fidelity, is when people hear Dubuque, they think it’s a big city bank. People think Wells Fargo or stuff like that. But most of our banks are small towns, so they’re basically very much like County Bank was. They just have more branches…Our mission statement is ‘Making hometown lives better.’ County Bank was a very good community bank, and Fidelity is like that, only we’re in more communities. So they’re very involved in projects and community groups and things like that,” said Assistant Vice President Lucas Meier.
County Bank, originally called Keokuk County State Bank, was chartered in 1876. It changed its name to County Bank in 2013, after expanding to feature banks outside of Keokuk County. The acquisition led to no change in personnel at County Bank. Meier stated that the bank would now offer more products and account types, as well as a trust department for wealth management and investments.
