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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Sterling Financial

Spokane-based Sterling Savings Bank and holding company Sterling Financial Corp. were founded in 1983 by William Zuppe and Harold Gilkey.

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Feds OK Sterling, Umpqua merger

Federal bank officials have given the green light to Umpqua Bank and Spokane-based Sterling Financial Corp. to conclude their merger, first announced last year.
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Sterling Financial, Umpqua Holdings to merge

Sterling Financial Corp., the highest-valued publicly traded corporation headquartered in Spokane and one of the city’s largest employers, is merging with Umpqua Holdings Corp. of Portland. Sterling branches will be rebranded as Umpqua Bank once federal regulators approve the $1.9 billion deal.

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Sterling Bank to rename branches in California

Sterling Financial Corp. will rename its California operations under the Argent Bank brand. The decision reflects a push by Spokane-based Sterling to grow operations in California, said company President and COO Ezra Eckhardt.
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Mortgage lending boosts Sterling

Sterling Financial Corp., which operates Sterling Savings Bank, regained its mortgage-loan mojo in 2012. The Spokane-based bank reported 2012 year-end income of $385.7 million, which included mortgage income of $96.9 million, up 85 percent over 2011. Sterling Chief Financial Officer Patrick Rusnak noted 2012 income was inflated by an income tax benefit of $292 million. When that number is deducted, Sterling’s fiscal 2012 income is $93.7 million, compared with 2011 net income of $39.3 million.
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Area companies post solid year collectively

The tracking index for 15 publicly traded Inland Northwest companies ended a good year with a mild dip in the fourth quarter. The Hart Capital Inland Northwest Index lost 3.2 percent in total value during 2012’s fourth quarter.
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Sterling to acquire Puget-area branches

Spokane’s Sterling Savings Bank has agreed to buy the Puget Sound-area operations of publicly traded Boston Private Financial Holdings Inc. Boston Private, a national financial services group that owns wealth management and private bank affiliates in Boston, New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, has operated three branches in the Seattle area. The company acquired branches in Seattle, Bellevue and Redmond in 2007 from financially distressed Charter Bank.
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Area companies beat S&P, Russell

Inland Northwest companies had a strong quarter from July through September. The Hart Capital Inland Northwest Index grew 14.3 percent in the third quarter. That’s dramatically better than the S&P 500 and the Russell 2000 indexes, which grew 5.8 percent and 4.9 percent, respectively.
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Downtown buildings change hands

Two of Spokane’s well-known but cash-strapped buildings concluded foreclosure sales Friday, closing the file on separate cases of large commercial properties falling victim to a distressed real estate market. The 17-story Wells Fargo Tower at 601 W. First Ave. and the six-level Holley Mason Building at 157 S. Howard St. both formally changed hands, culminating bank repossessions after the previous owners were unable to pay off loans.
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U.S. selling Sterling shares

The U.S. Treasury on Wednesday priced the sale of more than 5 million shares of Sterling Financial Corp. stock, which would net about $113 million in repayment for Troubled Asset Relief Program money the bank received in 2008. A news release said Treasury officials priced 5,738,637 common shares at $20 each and expect to close the sale on Aug. 20.

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