Central Bank snags Wis. insurance agency

Central Bank has bought Osceola, Wis.-based RiverBank Insurance Center as the fast-growing bank expands into insurance.

Terms of the deal, announced Monday, were not released. The sale closed Oct. 1.

The full-service insurance agency, which has about 3,700 individual and commercial customers and 18 employees, will operate as an affiliate of Central Bank and has been renamed Central Insurance Agency LLC. It has offices in Osceola and St. Croix Falls, Wis., and in Chisago City, Minn.

Mitch Cook, Central Bank's president and COO, said he expects the insurance product line to be an important revenue generator.

"The Central Insurance Agency can provide a one-stop shop for pretty much anything that a small-business owner would need in terms of insurance," Cook said in an interview.

Central Bank, based in Stillwater, is owned by veteran banker John Morrison, a Twin Cities banker who has owned a number of banks around the country over the years.

Central Bank has assets of about $1 billion now and has been an active acquirer, picking up seven failed banks since the start of the financial crisis. Earlier this year, it bought Bank of Naples in Florida.