Banner Bank to sell loans, deposits in Idaho to credit union

Banner Bank in Walla Walla, Wash., has agreed to sell the deposits and loans of one of its Idaho branches to Spokane Teachers Credit Union in Liberty Lake, Wash.

The $11.6 billion-asset Banner filed an application with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to sell assets, deposits and other liabilities of its branch in Sandpoint, Idaho, to the $3 billion-asset STCU, according to a public notice dated Friday.

The notice said the Banner branch will be closed and its assets and deposits will be transferred to STCU’s existing branch in Ponderay, Idaho. Ponderay is about 2.5 miles northeast of Sandpoint in Bonner County, Idaho.

STCU and Banner did not disclose the pricing or how much in deposits and loans were being sold. The Banner branch in Sandpoint had about $20.1 million in deposits as of June 30, according to the FDIC.

STCU said in a press release Monday that the transaction should close in August. All of Banner’s employees at the Sandpoint branch will be offered jobs at STCU.

In 2002, Bonner County became the first county in Idaho to be added to STCU’s field of membership.

“Once approval is granted, we will make this conversion as seamless as possible for Banner Bank clients,” Ezra Eckhardt, STCU’s president and CEO, said in the release.

Eckhardt noted that STCU completed a similar transaction in 2003, buying a branch of Wheatland Bank in Cheney, Wash.

STCU posted net income of about $31.8 million in 2018, up almost 53% from a year earlier. The credit union noted in its 2018 annual report that its interest income rose by almost $14.5 million from a year earlier. Net interest income increased by almost $11.4 million.

This article originally appeared in Credit Union Journal.
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