OCTOBER 2008: AROUND THE STATE
OREGON
BANKS CONTINUE SLIDE
STATEWIDE In the
March issue of Oregon
Business we quoted the Beatles in regard to the recent
fortunes of Oregon-headquartered banks: “It’s
getting better all the time (can’t get much
worse).”
Unfortunately, it can always get worse, and for most local
banks, it has. The Dalles-based Columbia River Bancorp swung to
a loss in the second quarter, causing executives to bite the
bullet with voluntary pay cuts and to shut down the
bank’s mortgage business in September, eliminating 70
jobs.
That’s not the only bad news. Income is down and
nonperforming assets are up for Cascade Bancorp of Bend and
West Coast Bancorp of Lake Oswego. Premier West Bancorp of
Medford and the largest bank headquartered in Oregon, Umpqua
Holdings, are both paying the price for backing residential
construction in California.
The chart above shows Sept. 2007-Sept. 2008 year-over-year
drops in stock prices for the six major public banks
headquartered in Oregon. Third-quarter results for 2008, due
out in mid-October, will be closely studied for signs of
improvement, such as the recent announcement by Umpqua that its
residential real estate loans bucked the trend by increasing
during the first half of
2008.
BEN JACKLET
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