Reporter’s Notebook

Columbia River Bank announces cuts

This morning we got some unsettling – but not wholly unsurprising – news from Columbia River Bank. The bank’s financial holding company, The Dalles-based Columbia Bancorp, announced the impending closure of its in-house mortgage lending service.
With it, about 39 mortgage banking positions across the bank’s 22-branch network will be cut in the next 60 days.
The local upside, if there is one, is that only one or two loan officers in Vancouver will be affected, said Chief Financial Officer Greg Spear. Hardest hit will be Bend, where the bank’s core center for mortgage operations is located.
The Vancouver location is primarily a support center with about 52 employees.
The decision to cut the service is tied to the uncertainty in the mortgage markets and risk associated with the industry. The cut will cost the company about $139,000 in severance costs, but is expected to save $4.2 million annually in salary and benefits expenses.
“As a business, you constantly have to look at what’s best for the long-term health of the organization,” Spear said.
The mortgage division has remained profitable, but only by a small margin recently, he added.
In other cost-saving efforts, Columbia River Bank yesterday made an unrelated broad 20-employee layoff and have not replaced employees who have left the company since May. Columbia Bancorp eliminated its director compensation and cut Chief Executive Officer Roger Christensen’s compensation by 23 percent through the end of the year.
The bank’s stance is that the reductions were made in commitment to customer service standards and to bring its staffing model to an appropriate level.

What do you think?

- Megan Patrick-Vaughn
mpatrick@vbjusa.com