Longtime banker on way back to Springs

Four years after he sold First National Bank of Colorado Springs to a Nebraska holding company, Rob Alexander is on his way back into the Colorado Springs banking industry.
State Bank of Bartley, a Nebraska institution of which Alexander is chairman and co-owner, is acquiring one of two Colorado banking charters of the Evans-based Bank of Choice as a way for it to expand to Colorado Springs, where it will operate as Stockmens Bank, Alexander said.
The move still requires approval by Nebraska and federal regulators, but could happen in as few as three months, he said.
State Bank, which has $35 million in assets, already operates a lending office with five employees in downtown Colorado Springs and will convert it into a full-service banking branch if it gets the required approvals, Alexander said. The bank would focus mostly on business lending, he said.
An investor group led by Alexander sold First National to Nebraska-based Pinnacle Bancorp Inc., which operates in Colorado as Bank of Colorado, after making it El Paso County’s fastest-growing financial institution during the previous five years.
He began his banking career at what is now Chase Bank and later started a lending firm he eventually sold to Wells Fargo & Co