A group that included William "Bud" Dashiell, founder of the former United Security Bank and longtime leader of its successor, AmericanWest Bancorp., has withdrawn its application to launch a bank, to be called United Community Bank.

The group had announced plans to open branches in the Suncrest area northwest of Spokane and in Chewelah.

The Washington state Department of Financial Institutions says the group withdrew its application last year for a charter for the proposed bank.

Don Morse, of Chewelah, one of the developers of the Suncrest Plaza shopping center, where the group had planned to open a branch of United Community Bank, also was one of 10 people who was on a "preliminary board" of the proposed bank. Morse says the developers of Suncrest Plaza still are seeking a financial institution to lease a site there for a stand-alone branch.

Dashiell, who would have been a principal and board member of the proposed bank, earlier had said its organizers hoped to start a bank that would be large enough to serve the needs of rural communities but keep its roots in those small communities.

He said the group had envisioned the proposed bank having a total of six or seven branches in northeastern Washington, including one at Suncrest and a main branch in Chewelah.

Dashiell founded United Security Bank in Chewelah in 1974 and retired as CEO of what is now AmericanWest Bancorp. in 1998. He resigned as the bank holding company's chairman in 1999, saying that the bank had undergone changes that didn't fit with his long-term goals for the company.