Sound Community Bank has taken over all three North Olympic Peninsula branches of Columbia Bank.
“Over the weekend, our data processing folks will convert file information about the clients so that when we open on Monday morning, all their accounts will be at Sound Community Bank,” said Laurie Stewart, president and chief executive officer of Sound.
The sale of the Columbia Bank branches in Port Angeles, Sequim and Port Ludlow technically would not close until about 6 p.m. Friday at the close of business at the branches, Stewart said at about 5 p.m. that day.
However, “we are in great shape. All agreements have been executed,” she said.
The purchase went smoothly, she said.
“It was the kind of transaction that was good for everybody involved,” Stewart said.
All employees at the three Columbia branches have been offered jobs with Sound, she said, and the bank expects to hire less than a dozen.
The change will be seamless for former Columbia customers, Sound officials have said.
Former Columbia customers are receiving new checks, debit cards and pin numbers, but their account numbers remain the same.
Conversions of some 2,000 accounts are expected to be done by Monday with no disruption to former Columbia customers.
In Sequim and Port Angeles, banking locations won’t change for a while — and the Port Ludlow location will not change at all.
In Sequim, the company will operate both the former Columbia Bank branch at 645 W. Washington St. and Sound Community Bank branch at 541 N. Fifth Ave. for three weeks before shifting all operations to the Washington Street location Friday, Sept. 12.
Sound’s Sequim branch is a leased facility.
In Port Angeles, where the company owns the former Columbia building at 602 E. Front St. but leases the land, consolidation into the Sound Community Bank branch at 110 N. Alder St. is expected tentatively by Nov. 10.
Some inquiries have been made about buying the Columbia Bank building, but no offers have been made, officials said.
In Port Ludlow, former Columbia Bank customers will find name and signage changed to Sound Community Bank at the branch at 9500 Oak Bay Road.
The manager in Port Angeles is expected to replace the retiring Port Ludlow manager, officials have said.
The Port Ludlow branch will be the first Sound Community Bank branch in East Jefferson County.
The bank has done business in Clallam County since 1997.
Purchase agreement
The purchase agreement specified that Sound Community would receive about $24 million of deposits and $1 million of loans in the purchase, while Columbia Bank would gain a 2.35 percent total deposit premium on the transaction.
The purchase leaves no branches of Columbia Bank, which has customers through Washington and Oregon, on the Peninsula.
Sound Financial Bancorp Inc. is the parent company of Sound Community Bank.
It also has full-service branches in Seattle, Tacoma and Mountlake Terrace; a loan production office; and an online EZ virtual branch.
For more information about Sound Community Bank, visit www.soundcb.com.
