Mortgage Firm in Washington Plans Second Bank Acquisition

Complete Financial Solutions in Spokane, Wash., has agreed to buy Northern Star Financial in Mankato, Minn.

The mortgage origination and processing services provider said in a press release Friday that it will initially buy a 24% stake in Northern Star, the parent of the $20 million-asset Northern Star Bank. Complete Financial Services will buy the rest of the company after it received regulatory approval for its change-in-control application.

The mortgage company said it will invest an additional $1 million to raise the bank's Tier 1 capital above 8%. At June 30, North Star Bank had a Tier 1 leverage ratio of 2.2% and a Tier 1 risk-based capital ratio of 3.1%, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

"This latest acquisition is a perfect fit for our diversification and growth strategy," Allen Ringer, Complete Financial Solutions' chief executive, said in the release. "It allows us to offer products that are complementary to all our existing entities."

This would be the second major bank investment for Complete Financial, which agreed in July to buy a 23.3% stake in American Patriot Bank with plans to buy the rest of the Greenville, Tenn., bank over time.

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