The failed Sherman/Howard County Bank that closed Friday has reopened under a another Nebraska bank.

Heritage Bank has taken over, and re-opened Sherman and Howard County branches Tuesday.

"The FDIC, one of its main purposes is to insure confidence in the banking system. The way we insure confidence in the banking system when a bank does fail is to bring in another bank so that we don't shutter a business on main street," said Scott Hammer, FDIC ombudsman.

About 60 people stopped by the Loup City location within the first three hours.

The director of operations at Heritage Bank said the failed branches fit well within the foot print of their existing branches.

For customers with savings and checking accounts, the only difference between the failed bank and the new Heritage Bank is the sign outside.

"It's business as usual for the depositors," said Bob Morris, director of operations for Heritage Bank.

He said accounts are all the same, and customer's debit and ATM cards will work as usual.

Customers like Jay Murphy don't seem to mind the switch.

"This is a small town. The people are all the same in there and you know, things happen. I think it's a fault of the economy more than anything else," he said.

Still, two employees wont keep their jobs.

"Two of the employees that were employed by the FDIC, which were two lenders, two former lenders we will not retain," said Morris.

Heritage Bank won't take on loans right now. They're in the FDIC's hands.

If the loans meet the bank's lending criteria, they will buy them from the FDIC.

"The FDIC will attempt to help these borrowers, try to get financed in their area of here. If that can't be done, eventually those loans will be consolidated into our Dallas, Texas, office and they will be bundled and sold to outside investors," said Hammer.

Hammer said the easiest thing to do is finance with Nebraska banks.

Despite this closure, he said, the bank culture in the state is strong.

"With a lot of agricultural banks, this is not a normal situation. It is a very abnormal situation. Most banks don't engage in trading. Therefore, they don't expose themselves to that risk," said Hammer.

The last Nebraska bank to close was in 1989, he said.

Customers may be in trouble if they have loans that have not been paid out yet, like operating loans.

The FDIC will only take on what has been paid out, so promised funds won't be there anymore.

According to Hammer, those customers need to either talk to Heritage or find another bank to finance their loan.

In extreme situations the FDIC may still take on their loan.

Heritage is in the process of looking through those loans to see how many meet their loaning criteria.