Salida, Colorado, was founded as a railroad town in the late 1800s when the city first incorporated along the Arkansas River.

Now, the Chaffee County seat is far more known for its vibrant tourism and mountain views.

“You think about how things have changed and how they have evolved,” said Dennis Weber, who serves as the CFO of High Country Bank, which is headquartered in Salida. “The town actually started because of the railroads. People come here now to enjoy our local shopping, art, restaurants and the numerous outdoor activities.”

Founded in 1886 as a thrift, High Country is the longest active state-chartered bank in Colorado. Like its hometown, the financial institution has had to adapt over the decades to survive and flourish.

In this century alone, High Country has added a new branch, increased its commercial lending to complement its mortgage portfolio and, most recently, added a new tool from FHLBank Topeka to support the community it calls home.

“We’re a staunch community supporter. We feel like that is our obligation as a pillar of the community, so we have quite a bit of deposit business with local public entities,” Weber explained. “And we just recently started using letters of credit to secure those public funds.”

Previously, High Country had been using investment securities to back public unit deposits before FHLBank Colorado Regional Manager Rusty Davis introduced the institution to letters of credit, also known as LTC. Weber said the product was and is a gamechanger for the bank, its customers and staff.

“It’s less administratively difficult to use letters of credit,” he said. “It’s just a simple administrative function, and it saves a ton of time.”

Letters of credit are electronic and on-demand, completed in most cases through the Members Only portal with same-day service. But the big timesaver, Weber said, lies in the reduction to time spent monitoring the amount of securities pledged to secure public funds because the value of FHLBank LTCs pledged does not change like pledged securities.

“In managing the investment portfolio, par values and market values change. So, when trying to monitor a $1 million investment verses monitoring a $1 million LTC, the LTC is much easier. That million never changes,” he said. “It is a great product from FHLBank to have in our repertoire.”

Along with letters of credit, High Country’s repertoire also includes term advances and overnight lines of credit from FHLBank to help its hometown of Salida and the surrounding areas continue to grow. And while the institution and its community have embraced change throughout their history, Weber said he is glad the trust he has in FHLBank Topeka has never had a reason to waiver.

“Years ago, when we were a thrift, the examiners said your bank can’t be reliant on FHLBank as a funding resource because they can cut you off,” he explained. “Each time they said that I have reached out to our FHLBank rep, and they were emphatic and unwavering that the mission of FHLBank was to support banks like us. There was never any question that they would be there when we needed them. That persistence and that stamina has always been appreciated.

“There are times we were in need, and, without fail, FHLBank was there.