The COVID 19 virus is making history in South Dakota, the United States and the World. Less than a month ago I don’t believe any US citizen could have expected that Universities, Schools, Professional sporting events and more would be shut down. This will clearly be a historic time in US and World history and it will also be a time that the resiliency of all of us is tested. I am very confident that history will also record this as one the most historic humanitarian events in the history of the United States, it will be a time where all of us have gone to great lengths to help one another by doing the “right thing”; America is stepping up to this unanticipated challenge.

As we are all learning together the one certainty of the Coronavirus is that the effect on the United States Economy will be significant. Many, if not all industries will be impacted in one capacity or another. The Banking system in the United States will play a pivotal role in the adaption to a COVID 19 affected economy. Pioneer Bank & Trust, as a 107-year-old family owned community Bank has taken an active role in supporting our employees, customers and the communities we serve. Today, we remain committed to providing the best service as circumstances allow to our customers.

It is important to understand the underlying financial strength of Pioneer Bank & Trust and to be assured that we deliver on our promise of being local in good times, hard times and these unprecedented times. As a Bank, we are stewards of your money and we take that obligation extremely seriously. We existed before this event, during this event and we will be here after this event. We have always maintained strong capital or equity in the Bank. We maintain high capital levels that are well in excess of regulatory requirements, we service no debt at either the Bank or holding company level. Our financial health is currently and has historically made us one of the soundest community Banks in the country. While no-one could have predicted a pandemic of this scale it is our financial strength that will get us through this challenging time just as it did with other historic events. We have weathered World Wars, pandemics, the Great Depression and Great Recession and other life changing world events in our history and this event will be no different – all of us together will persevere. We understand that we could have adversely affected customers and we will be working with them to adapt to what we are dealing with today – we will work with you. Our employees will be affected greatly by the closures of schools, daycare facilities and just simply the day to day interruption of daily routines. Our employees will not see a penalty in their paychecks if they are directly impacted by Coronavirus related absences. We support many worthy causes in our trade area, with the cancellation of so many events that generate funds to sustain their missions it is likely that our support will be even more critical than it ever has been.

We will continue to update our Social media and website as the situation changes, prior information releases can also be found on our website and social media. I can be reached at 605 717 2265 should you have any questions or concerns that you would like to discuss. Pioneer Bank & Trust is Local.