Banking & Finance

U.S. Bank invests in training its private bankers

Educational focus seen as benefit to customers

April 23, 2015

U.S. Bank's private banking department is providing enhanced educational support for its financial representatives, including here, that it believes will enable them to better serve its larger-balance customers.

Craft3 opens Spokane office

Nontraditional lender now has operations in seven Northwest cities

April 23, 2015

Judith Spitzer

Craft3, a nonprofit lender based in the southwestern Washington city of Ilwaco, has opened a Spokane office in the Peyton Building, at 10 N. Post downtown, says Susan Doll, Craft3's senior business lender here.

Former Spokane banking executive joins PacWest Bancorp

Rusnak to become CFO at $16 billion institution

April 23, 2015

Staff Report

Former Spokane banking executive Patrick J. Rusnak, who was credited here with helping to bring AmericanWest Bank back from the brink of collapse, has been named to take over as chief financial officer at Los Angeles-based PacWest Bancorp this fall.

Washington Federal plans Spokane presence - Art Only

-

April 23, 2015

Staff Report

Seattle-based Washington Federal Inc. is constructing a $3.5 million building on Spokane's North Side that will house its first permanent bank branch in Spokane and its Eastern Washington division offices. Located at 5322 N. Division, the two-story, 12,

Willamette Valley Bank to move its Coeur d'Alene home loan center

Oregon company takes space on East Sherman Avenue

April 23, 2015

Mike McLean

Oregon-based Willamette Valley Bank plans to move its Coeur d'Alene home-loan center by summer into a new building on Sherman Avenue at the east edge of downtown, says Steve Novotny, the bank's Coeur d'Alene sales manager and one of its loan officer

An Affinity for home loans: HomeStreet's employer-aided mortgage program

Fee-free service includes fiscal counseling

April 23, 2015

Mike McLean

HomeStreet Inc., the Seattle-based residential lender with three Spokane-area offices, says it has seen strong growth in its employer-assisted mortgage lending program since the bank entered the Spokane market three years ago.

RiverBank posts loss of $1.6M for 2014

Nine-year-old institution rocked by write-downs

April 9, 2015

Kim Crompton

RiverBank, the nine-year-old boutique institution here, has reported a net loss of $1.6 million for 2014, a step backward after recording net income of $111,000 the previous year to rebound from losses of $3.9 million in 2012, $686,000 in 2011, and $2.8 m

Seattle bank opens its first branch in Spokane

Washington Federal also plans $3.5 million building

April 9, 2015

Mike McLean

Washington Federal Inc. has opened its first Spokane bank branch in temporary facilities on north Division Street, and the Seattle-based bank is constructing a $3.5 million permanent bank building for the North Side branch and the bank's Eastern Washin

Community development unit invests $3.2 billion

BofA lending in '14 led to 13,000 new housing units

March 12, 2015

Staff Report

Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America Merrill Lynch Community Development Banking says it provided more than $3.2 billion in loans, tax credit equity investments, and other real estate development financial tools to more than 550 clients last year.

Boosting IRA gains by diversifying into real estate

Financial planner says it offers attractive benefits

March 12, 2015

Kim Crompton

Using a Roth individual retirement account to invest in real estate is a little-known strategy that can provide interesting diversification and attractive benefits for certain investors looking to try something different, says David L. Baker, a longtime f