Idaho First Private-Equity Deal Off

An Idaho start-up bank has called off a private-equity deal that it had hoped would help it reach profitability.

Four More Failures Cause $700M Loss

Four banks and thrifts totaling $2.3 billion in assets failed Friday on another busy — and expensive — night for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Glacier Stock Sale to Fund Deals

Glacier Bancorp in Kalispell, Mont., is planning to issue up to 4.6 million shares in a public offering, and it said it would use the proceeds to "fund possible ... "

Construction Loan Woes Spread to the Northwest

Northwest banking companies had hoped home sales would improve enough in the spring to keep residential construction loans from becoming more problematic ...

Intermountain's Profits Climb

Intermountain Community Bancorp of Sandpoint, Idaho, said its 4Q earnings rose 20.9% from a year earlier, to $2.8M, because of strong growth in fee income and loans.

State Regulators Start Mortgage License Registry

In a bid to better coordinate supervision of mortgage originators and brokers, several state regulators launched the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System this week.

Nixing Offer Leads to Far Better One

FirstBank NW Corp.'s rejection of a private investment group's unsolicited $112 million offer so it could shop for higher bids paid off handsomely when the Clarkston, Wash., company struck a deal that would pay its shareholders 51% more.

Zions Tries a Different Approach for Ore. Entry
Start-up to specialize in small businesses; following Wash. model

The acquisitive Zions Bancorp. is trying something different in Oregon: a start-up bank.

Cascade Finds Its Idaho Entry with Deal for F&M

Cascade Bancorp's deal for F&M Holding Co. gave Patricia L. Moss something she has been after for a long time: an entry point into one of the West's fastest-growing metropolitan markets.

Spread Out, BancWest Now Aims to Fill In

Twenty new branches next year, organic growth, and deals

After two large acquisitions that have pushed BancWest Corp. across the Rockies and the plains states, the company is adjusting its sights to focus on filling in its newly expanded 19-state service area through branching and smaller acquisitions.

BancWest Agency Eyes Deal Entry to Six States in West

BW Insurance Agency Inc., a Fargo, N.D., subsidiary of San Francisco's Bank of the West, says it will seek agency deals in six states - Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho, New Mexico, and Nevada - where it now has no offices but could help fill out its parent's footprint.

Zions Still Experiments, But Stresses Bank Core

Zions Bancorp.’s chief executive, Harris H. Simmons, is asking investors to look beyond its underperforming nonbank investments and recognize that its core business is booming in high-growth areas.

AgStar a Willing Bidder, But Is It an Able One?

AgStar Financial Services is willing to top Rabobank Group's bid for Farm Credit Services of America by $50 million.

Western Drought Could Hamper Ag Lenders Again

So far this year farmers plagued by the now five-year drought throughout the West and the Great Plains have done a better job paying back their loans than they did last year.