Published March 2005

Financial Institutions Briefs

Banner Bank opens
two branches in county
Banner Bank in February celebrated the grand opening of its two new branches in Snohomish County, Edmonds and south Everett.

The 3,000-square-foot Edmonds branch, at 7009 212th St. SW, offers a complete range of services including drive-up banking and an ATM.

The 1,800-square-foot south Everett branch, at 8519 Evergreen Way, also offers a complete range of services as well as 300 safe deposit boxes.

WaMu plans to add
250 branches nationwide
Washington Mutual recently announced plans to add 250 more retail banking branches to its nationwide network of approximately 1,940 in 2005. Also, the Seattle-based financial services company will update another 200 existing stores during the year to give its retail network a more consistent look and feel nationwide.

“Washington Mutual is creating a unique national financial services franchise and is well-positioned for growth by serving the huge market of middle-market consumers and small businesses,” stated Mike Amato, executive vice president of retail banking.

Washington Mutual’s patented branch concept uses circular layouts to eliminate the high counters often associated with the banking industry and encourages more personal service, the bank said. Teller windows are replaced with teller “towers” that allow for easier transaction between the customers and service representatives.

Also, Internet access to wamu.com is available at many retail banking stores, and many of the branches include a “WaMu Kids” section featuring a play area.

EvergreenBank leases
space in downtown Seattle
EvergreenBank recently signed a lease for a full-service branch to be located at 1111 Third Ave. in downtown Seattle. The lease signing follows the opening of the bank’s South Lake Union satellite office in November.

The new downtown area branch will be located in the space formerly occupied by Pacific Northwest Bank and is slated to open for business in mid-2005.

This will be the third office in the Seattle area, including the office located on Eastlake Avenue and the office located at South Lake Union, bank officials said.

Founded in 1971, EvergreenBank is a subsidiary of EvergreenBancorp Inc., a bank holding company headquartered in Seattle. Along with its Seattle offices, the bank operates branches in Lynnwood, Bellevue and Federal Way.

KeyBank unveils
Key4Women initiative
KeyBank in February announced plans to beef up its products and services for women-owned businesses.

Over the next three years, Key said it will lend at least $1 billion to qualified women-owned firms of all sizes, ranging from self-employed entrepreneurs to large corporations for working capital augmentation, business expansion, purchasing equipment, real estate and other purposes.

Key has dubbed this new push Key4Women, with program initiatives to include networking events to bring women-owned businesses together, the increase of resources available through Key.com/women as well as sponsorship of research studies to support business growth and success for women business owners.

Also, Key will name Key4Women relationship managers to serve women-owned businesses in each of its districts, with Maria Coyne, head of Key’s Small Business Administration program, heading up Key4Women nationwide.

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