Washington bank shut down by government regulators

Written by Dave Gallagher | The Bellingham Herald | January 14, 2013

A bank near Tacoma was shut down by government regulators on Friday, Jan. 11, details below in a FDIC news release. It’s been more than a year since the last state bank shutdown. According to the state Department of Financial Institutions, large loan losses in land development and construction led to the closure:

Westside Community Bank, University Place, Washington, was closed today (Jan. 11) by the Washington State Department of Financial Institutions, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Sunwest Bank, Irvine, California, to assume all of the deposits of Westside Community Bank.

The two branches of Westside Community Bank will reopen on Monday (Jan. 14) as branches of Sunwest Bank. Depositors of Westside Community Bank will automatically become depositors of Sunwest Bank. Deposits will continue to be insured by the FDIC, so there is no need for customers to change their banking relationship in order to retain their deposit insurance coverage up to applicable limits. Customers of Westside Community Bank should continue to use their existing branch until they receive notice from Sunwest Bank that it has completed systems changes to allow other Sunwest Bank branches to process their accounts as well.

As of September 30, 2012, Westside Community Bank had approximately $97.7 million in total assets and $96.5 million in total deposits. In addition to assuming all of the deposits of the failed bank, Sunwest Bank agreed to purchase essentially all of the assets.

The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $20.3 million. Compared to other alternatives, Sunwest Bank’s acquisition was the least costly resolution for the FDIC’s DIF. Westside Community Bank is the first FDIC-insured institution to fail in the nation this year, and the first in Washington. The last FDIC-insured institution closed in the state was Bank of Whitman, Colfax, on August 5, 2011.