Bremer CEO Jeanne Crain talks about small business clients, changing industry

Jeanne Crain, president and CEO at St. Paul-based Bremer Financial Corp., is finding that you don't have to be in a bank office to generate a loan.

Crain, who joined Bremer in 2016 after working for BMO Harris, Marquette and other banks, opened a living room-style space in the Linden Hills neighborhood of Minneapolis. Bremer bankers may be chatting over coffee with prospective clients. It also hosts neighbors and community workers.

Crain, whose dad was a watchmaker and jeweler in Rugby, N.D., graduated from the University of North Dakota before launching her 34-year career in banking. Crain, also on the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, recently chaired Gov. Mark Dayton's task force on creating more affordable housing, as well as serving the United Way and the Twin Cities area YMCA.

Q: Tell me about how your small business strategy is evolving.

A: Bremer has always focused on building meaningful relationships with our customers, and we have evolved to augment those personal connections with new technology solutions to meet the changing needs and preferences of our small business and other customers.

We are introducing new solutions for customers by focusing on improving their online and digital experience and providing new tools to help them more efficiently run their business operations.

Q: How many Minnesota offices/branches do you operate? How many have you closed in recent years?

Q: How many "cashless" offices, such as the one in Linden Hills, have you opened? What's the future?

A: In November of 2017, we rolled out Bremer's first cashless branch in the Linden Hills neighborhood of Minneapolis.

We transformed the traditional cash-based service model for an office that reflected the nature of the community, with the goal of making a strong connection with small businesses and their owners, along with residents in the Linden Hills neighborhood. We've gone from one [to 13 small business clients] in Linden Hills.

The office is a community destination where business leaders can convene, collaborate and meet with a banker to get advice and learn about better solutions for operating their business. We expect to incorporate features of this office into future Bremer locations.

Q: What's the secret sauce?

Q: Do you serve free coffee?

A: Yes, but we're not baristas. We have a neighborhood coffee shop as a client. We know how to have a conversation with a small business owner, or an individual, or a community group. We're trying to deepen our relationships. We have the tool kit. This is a strategy for growth for us.

Q: Do you have more tech and fewer employees than five years ago?

A: We have more employees. In 2014, we had 1,730. Currently, we have 1,838 across our three states of North Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Q: Will this be a year of record revenue and profit for Bremer?

Q: Please refresh me on your somewhat-unique ownership structure.

A: Bremer Bank is privately owned by the Otto Bremer Trust and Bremer employees. We are a for-profit commercial bank and our success as a financial institution drives success for all our shareholders.

The [Bremer foundation] is our majority owner. And each year 92 percent of bank dividends go to the foundation.

Eight percent [are paid] to Bremer employees. Since 2010, Bremer has distributed $392 million in dividends to shareholders, including $360.8 million to the foundation.

Q: Anything else?

We've partnered with a Silicon Valley startup accelerator … to explore innovations in financial technology that support our customers' growth.