Old National to lay off 244 from Bremer Bank service center in Lake Elmo

Old National Bancorp is permanently laying off 244 employees who work in a Twin Cities support center after closing a $1.4 billion deal to purchase Bremer Bank in May.

Most terminations and permanent layoffs at the Bremer Bank facility will happen in October or November, Indiana-based Old National said in a letter made public on Monday. Company officials expect “all separations will occur before the end of 2026.”

Old National said the action resulted from Bremer’s business being integrated after the merger.

In a letter to the state Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED), bank officials outlined the jobs being permanently cut, including accountants, loan servicers and customer support representatives.

The service center in Lake Elmo, at 8555 Eagle Point Blvd., handles customer service requests and other support tasks like information technology, loan management, security and human resources.

Old National has said its leaders met with legacy Bremer team members in recent months to discuss what positions would exist after company integration changes planned in late 2025. Some employees learned their jobs would be eliminated.

Old National said Monday that more than 900 former Bremer team members would remain employed as part of the combined organization.

At the time of the sale announced last year, Bremer employed about 1,500 people, including 1,200 Minnesotans. The bank’s footprint included 70 branches spanning Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin.

Bank officials declined to say Monday how many more Minnesotans could be laid off in total or whether any real estate assets may be trimmed as a result of the merger.

Before its sale, Bremer was the second-largest Minnesota-based bank, carrying $16 billion in deposits. It also held a unique distinction of being majority-owned by a charitable trust, an arrangement created by its late founder, St. Paul businessman Otto Bremer.

A yearslong controversy prefaced the sale to Old National. In 2019, Bremer Financial began exploring a merger with Great Western Bancshares. Trustees disagreed with that move, believing a sale would be more profitable, and countered by putting the trust’s stake in the corporation up for sale. The bank sued, touching off a five-year legal saga.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison conducted an investigation and intervened in court, alleging three trustees breached their duties. The case settled last summer. A Ramsey County District Court judge ultimately removed one trustee but ruled against nearly all of the allegations.

Bremer has operated as a division of Old National since the deal closed May 1. Old National officials have said a larger facilities and systems conversion is expected in mid-October.

Layoffs of Bremer staff have been expected since the deal’s announcement nine months ago. Early estimates from Old National tallied about $111 million in cost savings, which typically come from cutting redundancies including jobs.