Oct. 10, 2022

The Bancorp Inc. will become a South Dakota-based corporation next year as it prepares to move its headquarters to the expanded Cherapa Place downtown.

The bank changed from a Delaware charter recently to become a national bank. While it will maintain a presence in Delaware, The Bancorp headquarters will become Sioux Falls as of Jan. 1, 2023.

The Bancorp was founded in 1999 and has a history of commercial lending, but the switch to a national bank “is more an evolution of the last 20 years,” said Greg Garry, chief operating officer.

“Over that period of time, we switched from a branchless community bank to a lending platform. … With that, our footprint has shifted dramatically, so shifting from a state to a national charter made sense, and locating our headquarters where we see our long-term growth, which is our fintech business here in Sioux Falls, aligns.”

Once the move happens, Garry estimates The Bancorp will be the third or fourth largest bank in South Dakota, behind Wells Fargo and Citi, and potentially Pathward, formerly Meta Financial Group.

“We’ve had our most profitable and successful year in the bank’s history this year with a pretty clean line of sight into positive trends for the next several years,” Garry said.

The Bancorp building, which will be the tallest at Cherapa Place at 10 stories, is named in part to help elevate the company’s presence in the community.

“We want people to know who we are, to continue to grow talent,” Garry said, adding the business is working on creating more internship and feeder programs “to keep individuals here in South Dakota when they graduate from schools with top talent, and we’re trying to attract people as they’re coming back to the community.”

The two-story office at Cherapa Place is designed to be “like what you’d see on the coasts,” he continued. “It’s more attractive. We’re really looking forward to it.”

The space, designed by ISG – another tenant in the building – will accommodate up to 250 employees, with an estimated 170 moving in day one.

Renderings by ISG

An open staircase will serve as a key design element, encouraging interaction among teams on both floors.

Throughout the space, “we have a lot of woods, but in a tasteful, modern way, a lot of glass, a lot of leather,” said Maria Wainwright, chief marketing officer. “We even wove some of our brand colors into the carpet we selected for the conference rooms. Everything is tastefully and subtly done.”

The space will be designed so most individual offices are located on the interior of the floor, leaving the windows open for all as well as for employees with workstations.

There are multiple conference and collaboration areas, from informal areas with whiteboards to high-end rooms that need to be reserved.

“When you step out of the elevators, there’s an amazing glass corner that highlight the Arc (of Dreams), an all-glass boardroom and a beautiful seating area for interviewing,” Wainwright said. “It really has created such a fun, welcoming but modern space. We’re so proud to bring our partners here to hold big meetings, we can have board meetings a couple times a year, and the work cafe is a new thing for our people in Sioux Falls. They never had a place to meet and congregate.”

Employees can bring a laptop and work in the common spaces or use them for lunch or breaks. All employees will have height-adjustable desks, monitor arms, contactless charging stations and personal storage. There also will be multiple patios within the office.

When employees got a look at how their feedback had been incorporated into the design, “they were so excited,” Wainwright said. “The vibe was completely elevated. Everyone is so positive. I think if anyone was worried, it really put their mind at ease, and there was a lot of excitement generated.”

Roughly 30 percent of the workforce is in the office full time, 60 percent comes in three or four days a week, and a small number work fully remote.

“We’re averaging 3.5 to four days per person in the office,” Garry said. “It’s enough to give some level of flexibility but what we feel is the collaboration and problem-solving.”

The Bancorp plans to move into the new space in September 2023, and its current space at 69th Street and Western Avenue is available for lease after the move.

“We couldn’t be more excited to be part of this incredible development,” Wainwright said, adding the company views it as a chance to show South Dakota “how invested we are in our people and to give them an opportunity to live, work and play.”