Beginning with a 2022 acquisition of the People’s Savings Bank in Montezuma, Iowa, and soon taking ground in Dubuque, followed by Lubbock, Texas, and Albuquerque, N.M.; locally-owned Capra Bank has risen in prominence as the fastest-growing bank in the under $3 billion asset range nationwide, according to Raymond James statistics.

In late 2023, the Telegraph Herald reported Capra Bank managed an asset portfolio worth nearly $140 million. By April 2024, the company boasted more than $300 million in assets.

Now, CEO and founder Tut Fuller estimates the bank manages more than $710 million for small to medium-sized businesses.

We care about this community

“Technically, if you go back into the ’80s, Dubuque had three really strong local banks,” Fuller told the Telegraph Herald. “Now all of them have sold — and all of them have sold to larger banks that are not local.”

Fuller criticizes corporate banking for what he characterizes as a tendency to take investment funds away from local communities in favor of the national market, where they have a diluted effect on local economies.

He believes local, relationship-based investments prioritize communities more compared to other banks that might prioritize more profitable out-of-state interests.

“At Capra … we measure each of the markets (that we’re in) individually to make sure they are lending out their local deposit dollars to their local businesses and consumers,” he said. “We like to put signs on the different projects that we’re involved with funding. If you drive around Dubuque, you’re going to see a lot of Capra signs.

These signs can be seen at local construction projects where laborers are paid with local dollars.

“Everyone from the concrete contractors to the drywallers to the painters gets paid their money from a loan taken out of deposit dollars from Dubuque. They spend it (locally) on whatever their families need.”

Fuller said the end impact of local banking is a bigger community with an economy more limber and resistant to shock.

“Companies leaving town, like (what) happened to Dubuque in the ’80s, can cause a lot of pain,” Fuller said. “Just in general, a normal recession can cause a lot of pain … The 2008 recession was actually a banking recession. It was a catastrophic problem in the financial sector that led to the deepest recession since the Great Depression.”

Fuller said when the money supply breaks, industry and people alike suffer.

“We didn’t need to headquarter a bank in Dubuque,” he said. “We could have done a lot of other things. But we care about this community and we think the outlook for Dubuque can be bright if we have a leading local bank.”

Dubuque, Fuller said, is key for Capra continuing its momentum.

“We’ve put a lot of chips on the table in Dubuque, in Lubbock and in Albuquerque, and we are extremely interested in seeing it succeed. Because if Dubuque doesn’t do well, Capra Bank probably is not going to do well, either.”

Modernized banking

For the success of Capra, Fuller credits vendor technological advances that have allowed Capra to use technology matching that of big banks at an affordable price, mixed with a shift in customer preference toward online banking services.

“Your average branch costs $3-6 million,” Fuller said. “You can buy a lot of technology with $3-6 million and hire a lot of great bankers and give them great benefits for a long time. That’s our focus.”

Those bankers, in turn, work hard on maintaining relationships with the bank’s customer base.

“The relationship piece (is important), because if I were a company that was uncertain about how things were going to play out macroeconomically, I would want to ensure I banked at a place (where) I had excellent, longstanding relationships with my banker, because I know they’re going to stick with me if I have a hiccup or if something happens.”

Fuller says Capra’s business model prioritizes a less hierarchical office culture and direct, “non-bureaucratic” relationships with clients.

Business and consumer clients have opportunities to buy into Capra themselves, which Fuller believes makes a businesses’ abstract investment in the well-being of the community it serves a financial reality.

Community relations

Local developer Joel Callahan Jr. told the Telegraph Herald Callahan Construction had prior relationships with multiple employees of Capra before the bank’s founding and stuck with those people due to their understanding of the market and the way Callahan does business.

“I have a lot of their phone numbers,” Callahan said. “I could call any one of them, and I think I would get a call back within the day … it’s just really good relationship banking.”

Callahan said having a local banker who has a better understanding of the market allows rate discounts for reputable clientele. He added that Capra helps him meet other people in his industry, allowing him to learn more about Dubuque and its market, and he touted Capra’s support of local events through donations and sponsorships.

Molly Grover, president and CEO of Dubuque Area Chamber of Commerce, said Capra has quickly become part of Dubuque’s economic landscape.

“We love nothing more than the growth and success of our members, and Capra is no exception,” Grover said. “This not only highlights the strength and potential of our local economy but also demonstrates the profound impact that local investments have on the future of our community.”