Washington Banking Co., Oak Harbor, has elected Jay Lien as chairman.
The $204 million-asset company, which went public in June, owns Whidbey
Mr. Lien is the owner and president of Windermere Real Estate/Dan
He has been a bank director since 1987.
As chairman he succeeded Edward "Bud" Wallgren, who had held the job
The top five banks and thrifts have combined total assets of nearly $13 trillion.
Institutions and their investors are facing pressure from climate activists, cautiously awaiting interest rate cuts and adjusting to new Federal Reserve and FDIC policies.
A new Citizens Bank survey suggests rising check-fraud incidents are driving middle-market companies to accelerate plans to fully adopt digital payments. But 70% of all businesses will continue to rely on checks for years to come, according to recent data from the Association for Financial Professionals.
After several quarters of slumping investment banking and trading fees, the Charlotte, North Carolina-based company reported a big uptick from that division, which helped compensate for a large decline in net interest income.
The Federal Reserve's Office of the Inspector General says the Fed has yet to fulfill 65 recommendations, and also identified 18 outstanding issues at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
The bank will use biometric authentication to streamline checkout in stores starting in 2025. It has already completed internal and external pilots of the technology.
