Minneapolis firm to acquire Polson bank

Veritec Inc. of Minnesota is planning to acquire Flathead Bancorporation Inc., the majority owner of First Citizens Bank of Polson.

Flathead Bancorporation would become the sponsoring bank for Veritec’s secure verification and financial products.

“In the past, our ability to continually provide our products and services has been dependent on our finding and retaining a sponsoring bank, which has been difficult,” Van Tran, chief executive officer of Veritec, said in a news release Thursday.

“With this acquisition, we remove that dependency and control our ability to continually provide our products to our customers without disruption. We also believe our vertical acquisition of Flathead Bancorporation will make our cutting-edge mobile banking and payment products the most efficient and cost-effective in the industry.”

Veritec’s products include prepaid debit cards, mobile banking applications and secure payment systems

Veritec would acquire 9.9 percent of Flathead Bancorporation shares for $320,000. Veritec intends to purchase the remaining 90.1 percent of Flathead Bancorporation’s outstanding common shares within three years for $2,880,000.

The total purchase price would be $3.2 million.

Veritec also would provide $1.18 million in loans to Flathead Bancorporation.

Citizens Bank President Rick Skates will continue to oversee the bank’s operations and will be responsible for the integration of Veritec’s proprietary technology into its operations.

Veritec is currently seeking regulatory approval from banking authorities and plans to raise money from investors by issuing its common shares and/or taking on debt.