American Bank & Trust brings 130 years of experience to Tea

American Bank & Trust brings more than 130 years of banking experience to Tea.

Kevin Petoske, American Bank & Trust chief growth officer, said the bank started in Alpena 131 years ago. It has been a big presence in central South Dakota, but has since branched out to other areas. They opened their bank in Sioux Falls in 2016.

They’ve also opened banks in Watertown, Aberdeen and Worthington, Minn., where they started by building a banking team, built a bank and then built their customer base. The last acquisition before purchasing Valley Exchange Bank was in 2018 when they bought banks in Stickney, Iroquois and Carthage.

Josh Tribble, market president in Tea, started with American Bank & Trust two years ago, but he’s been in banking for almost 20 years. A Watertown native, Tribble’s dad and brother were both bankers and he started as a teller at 18 years old.

After getting a master’s in Human Resources management and development from the University of Denver in 2013, he worked in Colorado up until he and his family moved back to South Dakota a couple years ago.

Through his position in Tea, he feels he can use the different skills he’s learned throughout his banking and Human Resources career.

“It’s just a great way to utilize my divers skill set - consumer banking, business banking, management - all under that same umbrella,” Tribble said.

Customers can see Tribble in the bank most of the time. He looks forward to visiting with people in person and continuing Valley Exchange’s culture of customer first and traditional banking.

Along with traditional banking, customers will also be able to utilize mobile banking, mobile deposits, online bank statements, as well as commercial banking, ag banking and mortgage lending.

“We want to meet the needs of everybody in the community,” Tribble said.

Customers will see a facelift to the current building in Tea in the short-term. They have a strong desire to make an investment into the Tea community by building a new building when they are able to secure land. They have also begun getting involved with the community by signing a multi-year contract with the school district as a scoreboard sponsor. They will be in the homecoming parade and will have a spirit card coming out soon.

American Bank & Trust will bring a lending limit of $26 million to commercial banking to the community.

“We give you the products and services that every big bank is going to offer, however, we deliver a service that’s more in line with the community banking model,” Tribble said.