Bank of America shutting branch in Republic

Bank of America has announced plans to close its Republic, Wash., branch – the only commercial bank in Ferry County – a company spokeswoman confirmed Friday.

Operations at the Republic branch, due to be closed by Sept. 1, will be consolidated with a branch in Colville in neighboring Stevens County, said company spokeswoman Diane Wagner, based in Chicago.

Wagner said the closure is part of a companywide plan to streamline operations. She said about 100 “low-volume” branches will be closed; at the same time, Bank of America will be adding 250 ATMs across the country.

In addition to the bank, rural Ferry County has just one other financial institution, a credit union, said John Friederichs, vice president of the Republic Public Development Authority.

Ferry County has a population of 7,560 people. Republic is the county seat.

Friederichs said the loss of the bank means county and state agencies will not be able to arrange financing inside Ferry County. Washington law requires public entities to bank exclusively with commercial banks, where deposits are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., Friederichs said.He said he could not speculate on how the closure would affect ongoing efforts to recruit a manufacturing firm to Republic.

Officials at RWE Schott Solar, based in Massachusetts, have discussed building a Ferry County plant to produce photo-voltaic cells. It would add 90 jobs to start, a massive boost in a county that has the lowest per-capita income and highest unemployment rate in the state.

“I can’t speak for that company (RWE Schott Solar),” said Friederichs. “But it may matter to them that the only bank in the county is no longer here,” he said.

A spokesman for RWE Schott Solar was unavailable for comment.

Friederichs also pointed out that Bank of America’s Republic branch offers the only safe-deposit boxes in the county.