Spokane-based AmericanWest Bank plans to open a new branch in downtown Seattle, pending regulatory approval.

Kelly McPhee, spokeswoman for the bank, says it hopes to receive notification from the Washington state Department of Financial Institutions in the first quarter of the year as to whether it will approve the branch.

If the bank's plans are approved, it will be AmericanWest's first new branch opening since SKBHC Holdings LLC bought the bank's assets in 2010, AmericanWest says in a press release. The company, however, has expanded three times in the past year via acquisition.

The Seattle branch is to be located in about 1,400 square feet of floor space on the street level of a building at 1201 Third. The company says it already leases space on 15th floor of that building, where it has administrative offices.

The branch will employ three to five people, McPhee says.

AmericanWest currently operates 12 branches in the Puget Sound area and 71 overall. It first entered the Seattle market last year with the acquisition of Bank of the Northwest in May, following that in September with its acquisition of Viking Bank.

As of the completion of the Viking acquisition late last year, AmericanWest had assets of $2.3 billion and branches in Washington, Idaho, Utah, and California.