BMO Harris Bank of Chicago plans to grow in Minnesota over the next three years. The company, the fourth-largest commercial bank in Minnesota with slightly more than 1 percent share of deposits, plans to provide an additional $3 billion in credit over the next three years.
Todd Senger, BMO Minnesota president, said business-and-consumer lending rose 6.5 percent last year, faster than overall growth, and the company is making strides organically and taking some market share. Moreover, a company survey of Minnesota businesses indicated that more than half intend to invest in their businesses this year.
Senger said BMO customers are "displaying confidence in the economy and … in their prospects" and that a disproportionate amount of the credit will go to "entrepreneurs, women and minority business owners so they have more certainty of credit to grow and create new jobs."
Wells Fargo (50.4 percent) and U.S. Bank (23.2 percent) control about 75 percent of state deposits, according to recent records of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. They are followed by TCF (2.2 percent), BMO (1.1 percent) and Bremer (1 percent).
BMO Harris, the U.S. unit of Canada's huge Bank of Montreal Financial Group, got into Minnesota several years ago through BMO's purchase of Milwaukee's then-troubled M&I Bank for $4.1 billion. M&I earlier had purchased Minneapolis-based National City Bank.
BMO, which won't comment on speculation, also has been mentioned for years as a possible suitor of TCF Financial.
Verde technologies goes to Washington
Christine Horton, the top marketing executive at Burnsville-based Verde Technologies, and board member Jason Sundby were in Washington, D.C., last week to brief drug-enforcement officials and policymakers on Deterra, the company's new product that deactivates prescription drugs and makes them safe for disposal.
"There is a need for this," Horton said. "We ran out of samples during some of our meetings with law enforcement, military people and others. It's important to get rid of [excess] prescription drugs before they are abused. We're focusing our marketing on public safety agencies, doctors offices, hospitals … anybody who recognizes the opportunity to show responsibility."
The Verde folks were in Washington for the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America's National Leadership Forum.
The Deterra System features a pouch containing MAT12, a proprietary activated carbon that bonds to pharmaceutical compounds when water is added, rendering drugs ineffective and safe for disposal quickly in any setting — home, clinic or hospital. Deterra has a 98 percent success rate in deactivating prescription drugs, according to a research study supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and Deterra. Deterra also renders chemical compounds safe for landfills, incineration and keeps them out of water supplies.
"Our partnership program extends the opportunity to the pharmaceutical and health care industries to change behavior and make a real difference in reducing prescription drug misuse and abuse," Horton said. The product is manufactured for Verde by a pharmaceutical maker.
Deterra-SP is a single pouch design with a recommended capacity of 15 pills, 2 ounces of liquid or two transdermal patches per pouch. The Deterra System is available to partners, with the smallest size priced significantly under $1 each.
Sundby is a board member of Atlas Capital Partners, one of the owners of Verde, which employs about 20 people.
Minnesota firms off to 'water Arabia'
Steve Riedel, the veteran Minnesota Trade Office export navigator, leads a delegation this month to "Water Arabia 2015," in freshwater-short Saudi Arabia.
The conference will cover water and wastewater treatment design, operations and technologies, advancement and treatment technologies and new wrinkles in sustainable water supply and wastewater-recycling practices. The Minnesota attendees include Peter Cartwright of Cartwright Consulting, Steve Cremer of Harmony Enterprises, Jim McNelly of Renewable Carbon Management, Jeremiah Wojciechowski of Aeration Industries and Frank Amponsah of Dow Water and Process Solutions.
Dow Water and Process Solutions is building a manufacturing facility in Saudi Arabia to make reverse osmosis membranes, a technology it developed at its plant in Edina. The plant, which will be owned and operated by Dow Water, is an outgrowth of Dow's ongoing relationship in the country with Saudi Aramco.
Harmony Enterprises, which makes recycling balers and compactors, already does business in Saudi Arabia.
"The other companies are just starting to getting a foothold there," Riedel said.
Junkans Moves From Brokerage to Bethel
Dean Junkans has called it a career at Wells Fargo, the last 11 years of which he was the Minneapolis-based chief investment officer of the wealth, brokerage and retirement business. Junkans, 55, waged a successful fight with cancer over the past couple of years. That was a catalyst for the retirement decision. He's teaching investments at Bethel College and helping others with cancer through volunteer counseling and by starting "the first bladder cancer support group in the Twin Cities."
Junkans is a farm kid out of the University of Wisconsin-River Falls.
