Published December 2005

Financial Briefs

First Heritage Bank
names new president
First Heritage Bank has named the accountant who has overseen its audits to be its new president.

The decision to split the jobs of president and chief executive and name Cathy Reines to the new post is intended to help First Heritage of Snohomish meet the increased regulatory load created by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, chief executive Bob Bryce said.

“Cathy’s extensive audit experience is exactly what we need,” he said. “We complement each other very well. My strengths are in commercial lending, and hers are in operations and regulations.”

Reines is based in the bank’s Snohomish headquarters branch and reports to Bryce.

Reines has worked on First Heritage audits for more than eight years. As a partner with McGladrey & Pullen, she was responsible for the bank’s annual financial statement audit. Then as managing director of RSM McGladrey, she oversaw the bank’s internal and compliance audits.

She most recently was founder and president of Converge Consulting Inc., the bank’s current internal audit and compliance consulting firm.

SBA’s Seattle office relocates
The Seattle District office of the U.S. Small Business Administration recently relocated to the Fourth and Battery Building, 2401 Fourth Ave., Suite 450, in Seattle’s Belltown district. Since 1995, the office was located in the Park Place building at 1200 Sixth Ave., Suite 1700.

All phone numbers of the office and staff remain the same. The SBA regional office also is relocating to the same address, Suite 400.

Golf Savings Bank moves
Everett mortgage branch
Golf Savings Bank, which has grown substantially in the past year, recently moved its Everett mortgage branch office to Mountlake Terrace.

The move was made to accommodate growth and take advantage of the larger space available at the Mountlake Terrace branch, located just off the 220th Street exit of I-5. The company moved its escrow company, Golf Escrow Corp., into the expanded space as well.

“We’re better able to serve our Everett clients from this location,” Executive Vice President Donn Costa said. “By consolidating, we can take advantage of new technology being introduced now throughout our company.”

Golf Savings Bank also has mortgage offices in Seattle’s Northgate and downtown neighborhoods, Kennewick, Kirkland, Gig Harbor and Silverdale. Its retail bank is located at company headquarters in Mountlake Terrace.

For the first quarter of 2005, Golf Savings Bank ranked in the 99th percentile in return on equity, return on assets and asset growth, the bank said. That ranking is among banks throughout the United States with assets of $100 million to $300 million.

SBA seeks lenders
to process disaster loans
In an effort to provide faster financial assistance to business owners in the areas affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the U.S. Small Business Administration has launched the “Give a Lending Hand” initiative, asking for volunteers from the business lending community to help process business disaster loan applications.

Under the initiative, the SBA is asking the business lending community to assist the agency in processing business disaster loans, with private loan officers being temporarily hired, the SBA said. Those involved in the program will be temporarily detailed to the SBA’s Fort Worth Processing Center in Texas for a minimum of 60 days.

In addition to lenders currently employed in the industry, the SBA also is seeking financial professionals who have retired within the past 10 years.

For more information, send e-mail to Allan.Hoberman@sba.gov or call 202-205-6734.

First Heritage, CityBank
among top 15 SBA lenders
Two Snohomish County banks ranked among the top 15 in 7(a) lending for the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Seattle District office in fiscal year 2005.

Snohomish-based First Heritage Bank was ninth in the number of 7(a) loans, with 55 totaling more than $16.7 million, and Lynnwood-based CityBank was 15th, with 35 totaling more than $8 million.

Also, the SBA’s Seattle office experienced record-pace lending for the 7(a) loan program during the year, with the agency reporting that 106 SBA lenders made 2,198 loans totaling $407 million. That compares to 2,057 loans totaling $359 million in fiscal year 2004.

For the SBA’s 504 loan program, activity was down in the Seattle office, though the amount loaned was up, with 165 loans totaling $85.5 million in fiscal year 2005 compared to 185 loans totaling $84 million the year before.

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