Feb. 27--South Dakota-based Great Western Bank plans a move into Greeley sometime soon, as a part of a three-state expansion, according to stories published on the company's Web site.

According to the Sioux Falls Business Journal, Great Western Bank received approval from the South Dakota Division of Banking this month to open three loan-production offices in Chicago, Greeley and Walnut Creek, Calif.

Curt Everson, president of the South Dakota Bankers Association, told the Journal he wasn't surprised by the company's plans.

"From what I know of their intentions when they were acquired, I think it was their intention at the time to grow their business," Everson told the Journal.

National Australia Bank LTD, headquartered in Melbourne, Australia, acquired Great Western for $800 million last year, the Journal reported.

According to the Journal, Great Western is negotiating to buy a bank in Colorado, and an agreement could be reached within the next 90 days. Great Western is on a list of banks that are contacted regularly by the FDIC as potential buyers for troubled banks, the Journal reported.

Great Western President Jeff Erickson, however, told the Journal that the bank doesn't need to acquire a bank, and that it could "grow organically" based its balance sheet.

Great Western was bought out by the National Australia Bank in 2008 for $800 million.

-- Income: $49 million, 8.9 percent growth from 2007, and more than 200 percent growth from 2004.

-- $46.7 million in past due and non-accrual loans

-- Total assets: $4.3 million

-- Deposits: $3.1 million

-- Operates in six states: Arizona, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and South Dakota

-- 103 locations

-- More than 900 Employees

Source: FDIC fourth quarter performance reports and Great Western's Web site.

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