WaMu.com still having problems

Area customers of Washington Mutual bank were still unable Friday to pay bills online or conduct bank business via the Internet, the company said Friday. The problem has continued since last weekend.

Bank officials acknowledged Friday that an upgrade to the bank’s online banking software ran into unexpected glitches.

Customers across the state and the country were unable to conduct transactions, such as bill payments. A bank spokeswoman on Friday could not say how soon the service would be restored.

“We’re in the process of adding some new features to WaMu.com,” said an e-mail sent by spokeswoman Darcy Donahoe-Wilmot from the bank’s Seattle’s main office.

“Unfortunately, the work that we’re doing is taking longer than expected and is causing some online features to be periodically unavailable. Most of the site is operating just fine, but we’re not quite done yet,” she wrote.

New York

WorldCom exec loses appeal

A federal appeals court on Friday upheld the conviction of former WorldCom Inc. chief executive Bernard Ebbers on charges related to a multibillion-dollar accounting fraud.

The ruling by the three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals could clear the way for Ebbers to begin serving a 25-year prison sentence for his actions as head of the telecommunications company.

Convicted in 2005, Ebbers had argued on appeal that he had been denied a fair trial and that his lengthy prison sentence was unreasonable.

When the extent of the $11 billion accounting fraud was revealed, WorldCom collapsed and declared bankruptcy.

Walla Walla

Banner reports record Q2 profits

Banner Corp., the Walla Walla-based parent company of Banner Bank, reported record second quarter profits of $9.4 million, or 77 cents per share, compared to $5 million, or 42 cents per share, from one year earlier.

For the first six months of 2006, net income totaled $16.1 million, or $1.33 per share, compared to $9.7 million and 82 cents per share for the first six months of 2005.

Last month the bank reported a $5.5 million insurance settlement relating to a loss incurred during 2001. The settlement produced a credit of $5.4 million and contributed about $3.4 million to second quarter 2006 earnings, a company release said.

Company officials also noted that loans grew 22 percent form one year earlier, to a total of $2.79 billion.

Coeur d’Alene

Mountain West earnings up 14%

Mountain West Bank reported record earnings of $3.3 million during the second quarter, compared to earnings of $2.8 million during the second quarter of 2005.

For the first six months of the year, Mountain West had earnings of $6.2 million, a 14 percent increase over the same period last year.

The state-chartered bank is headquartered in Coeur d’Alene.