Keybank Consolidation To End Jobs

Employees at two KeyBank branches in Spokane and Kettle Falls will take the brunt of layoffs associated with the bank’s consolidation efforts, spokesman Rob Gill said Monday.

Although only 10 layoffs are expected statewide when nine branches are closed, Gill said four of those positions are in Spokane, and three in Kettle Falls.

“We don’t have any nearby branches to roll them into,” he said.

KeyBank is closing its branch at Sprague and Havana and moving the accounts there to its other Spokane branch at 11205 E. Sprague. That transfer will occur March 1.

Gill said four employees of the Sprague and Havana branch will stay with the bank.

In Kettle Falls, only one of four employees will have a job when the bank transfers those accounts into its Colville office April 7, he said.

Gill said the employees and customers who will be affected by the reorganization were informed of the changes last week.

Gill said the other branch closures will occur in the Puget Sound area, where shifting employees around to replace retirees or outgoing workers will be easier.

KeyBank will have 156 Washington branches when the consolidation effort is completed.

The restructuring, which will create one national bank, was announced Nov. 25 by bank officials who said the effort will improve the bank’s competitive position as the industry heads into the 21st Century.

KeyCorp has operated as a holding company for separate banks in the Northeast, Midwest and Northwest.

Monday, Northwest Region Group executive T.R. “Ted” Winnowski said the reorganization does not represent a step away from KeyBank’s agricultural lending in Washington and Oregon.

“Our intention is to continue our role as a leading agricultural lender in the state,” he said.

Gill said KeyBank ranks No. 3 in Washington as a lender to production agricultural operations like vegetable growers.

KeyBank purchased its Eastern Washington offices from BankAmerica in April 1992. The California holding company, owner of Seafirst Bank, sold the former Security Pacific branches to obtain regulatory approval for its merger with that bank.

, DataTimes