Valley Community Bancshares, Inc., parent company of Valley Bank, reported earnings to $2.15 million, or $1.90 per share, for the year ended December 31, 2011, up slightly compared to $2.07 million, or $1.82 per share, during the previous year.
 
The company's Board of Directors also has approved a $1 per share cash dividend to shareholders of record on Dec. 31, 2011. The dividend represents the 38th consecutive year of payment.

Heritage Financial Corp. reported net income for the quarter ended Dec. 31 of $2.2 million compared to $9.1 million for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2010 and $1.8 million for the linked-quarter ended Sept. 30, 2011.
 
The net income applicable to common shareholders for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2011, was 14 cents per diluted common share, compared to 77 cents per diluted common share for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2010, and 12 cents per diluted common share for the linked-quarter ended Sept. 30, 2011.

Columbia Banking System, Inc. reported net income applicable to common shareholders of $14.8 million for the quarter ended Dec. 31, an increase of 17 percent compared to net income of $12.6 million for the same quarter of 2010.  On a diluted earnings per common share basis, net income rose 16 percent to 37 cents for the fourth quarter, compared with net income of 32 cents per share a year earlier.

Net income applicable to common shareholders for the year ended Dec. 31 was $48 million, an increase of 86 percent from net income of $25.8 million for 2010.  On a diluted per common share basis, net income for 2011 was $1.21 compared with 72 cents a year earlier.

Anchor Bancorp, the holding company for Anchor Bank, reported net income of $93,000, or 4 cents per diluted share, for its fiscal second quarter, which ended Dec. 31.

That compares to a net loss of $126,000 which the Lacey-based company reported for the same period a year earlier.

Alaska USA Federal Credit Union has opened its first branch in Olympia inside Top Food & Drug at 1313 Cooper Point Road SW. The credit union now operates 19 branches in Washington, including a new branch in Port Orchard.

Both new branches offer a full range of credit union services, including ATMs and Self-Service Centers, and are open seven days a week.

Banner Bank and Wells Fargo customers were among the most frequently rejected applicants for funding in Washington, according to a study of 1,000 small companies denied loans from their existing banks conducted by Biz2Credit.

"Biz2Credit's analysis of primary data quantifies what many small business owners have been saying: big banks have been unwilling to lend – even to their own customers," said Rohit Arora, CEO of Biz2Credit, who oversaw the research based on applications made on the online platform over the past two years.

Olympia Federal Savings opened its branch in Belfair a year ago this month, and now the environmentally friendly designed building has been awarded a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Gold Certification.

LEED is an internationally recognized mark of excellence in green building and provides building owners with a framework for identifying and implementing practical and measurable sustainable green building design, construction, operations and maintenance solutions.

Harpreet Kaur M.D. has joined Garden Terrace Alzheimer's Center of Excellence in Federal Way as full-time, on-site physician. She previously was a medical consultant for Western State Hospital in Tacoma and also was a hospitalist for Fountain Valley Regional Hospital in southern California. Kaur earned her medical degree from Goa Medical College in India. She is board certified in internal medicine.

Benson Porter has been named president and CEO of BECU. He will take over in April from retiring CEO Gary Oakland who served in this role for 25 years. Porter has spend the last five years as president and CEO of First Tech Federal Credit Union in Palo Alto, Calif.  He also has experience working for the Washington State Senate Banking Committee and the state's Division of Banking.  Porter is a graduate of Whitman College and received a law degree from Seattle University.

America's Credit Union is beginning 2012 with an eye on expansion.

ACU plans to open two branches in Yelm this year. The credit union is building a new branch that is scheduled to open during February. A branch inside Walmart is scheduled to open during March.

Karli Jorgensen has been confirmed to serve as a Kent Municipal Court judge. She has served as Kent's primary Pro Tem Judge since 1996. Jorgensen has a juris doctorate degree from the University of Washington. Since 1985, she has worked in both government and private practice engaging in criminal and civil law. Jorgensen is a member of the Washington State Bar Association, as well as the United States District Court of Western Washington and the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Andy Bird has been named aerospace liaison for Clover Park Technical College. He is instructional dean for technology, transportation and science/engineering. Bird's new area of responsibility includes directing the more than $2.2 million in federal and state aerospace grants recently awarded to the college. Since 2008, Bird has led the college's efforts to form a strong partnership with its aerospace industry partners, including Boeing. He has a bachelor's degree in biochemistry and a master's degree in education from Western Washington University, and has worked for CPTC since 2007.

Jenny Duffy has been selected as Mason General Hospital & Family of Clinics' December Employee of the Month. She is a registered nurse  and works in the Emergency Department at Mason General Hospital. Duffy has bachelor's degree in nursing from the University of Phoenix.

Tula Mollas has been selected to receive the 2012 National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development Excellence in Teaching award. She is a developmental education instructor in English and math at Clover Park Technical College.

Benson Porter has been named president and CEO of BECU. He will take over in April from retiring CEO Gary Oakland, who served in the role for 25 years.

Porter has spent the last five years as president and CEO of First Tech Federal Credit Union in Palo Alto, Calif.  He also has experience working for the Washington State Senate Banking Committee and the state's Division of Banking. Porter is a graduate of Whitman College and received a law degree from Seattle University.

Jeff Kraft has joined Kidder Mathews' Tacoma brokerage division as a vice president. He will specialize in retail leasing, development and acquisitions. Kraft previously worked for Neil Walter Co.

Frederick Mendoza has been appointed to the Highline Community College Board of Trustees. After 30 years of public and private law practice, Mendoza founded Mendoza Law Center, PLLC in 2007. Prior to entering the private law sector, Mendoza served as King County deputy prosecuting attorney in the criminal and fraud divisions. He is a graduate of the University of Washington School of Law.

Columbia Bank has been ranked as the best bank headquartered in Washington by the Forbes list of America's Best and Worst Banks. Listed at No. 34, Columbia ranks ahead of Key Bank, Chase, U.S. Bank and Bank of America.
 
The list, ranking 100 of the largest publicly traded banks in the country, also placed Tacoma-based Columbia Bank as the second best headquartered in the Pacific Northwest.

The Board of Directors of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has approved a $3.28 billion corporate operating budget for 2012, 15.4 percent lower than the 2011 budget.

"It appears that the peak of the recent banking failures may have passed and the FDIC is now positioned to begin reducing budget and staffing levels while continuing to fulfill our mission and maintain readiness to handle remaining bank failure and supervisory challenges," said FDIC Acting Chairman Martin Gruenberg. "While this budget reflects our priority to reduce costs where prudent, it also allocates the resources needed to implement new authorities under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, primarily the FDIC's ability to facilitate the orderly resolution of a large, complex financial institution."

Heritage Bank has been named 2011 Financial Institution of the Year by Ameritrust CDC, a certified development company that promotes the profitability and prosperity of small businesses in Washington by providing low cost, fixed rate commercial real estate financing in partnership with the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Heritage closed nine loans during fiscal year 2011 for a total of $9,911,945, according to Ameritrust. Projects included dental, chiropractic, accounting and ophthalmologists offices, a gas station, a manufacturer, a therapy center and a labor ready service operation.

Curtis Costner has taken on the role of CEO and owner of Sands Costner & Associates, a full-service advertising and design agency in downtown Tacoma.  The company has relocated its offices to 1117 Broadway, Suite 401. Rachael Costner will continue to serve on the board.

John W. Hulbert Jr. has joined TwinStar Credit Union as business operations manager. He has more than 20 years of experience as a commercial lender and team leader with various commercial banks throughout the Northwest. Hulbert graduated from St. Martin's High School in Lacey and attended St. Martin's College before graduating from Central Washington State in 1970. He has completed Northwest Intermediate Banking School and Northwest Commercial Lending School at the University of Portland.  He also is a graduate of Pacific Coast Banking School at the University of Washington.

Commercial banks and savings institutions insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. reported an aggregate profit of $35.3 billion during the third quarter of 2011, an $11.5 billion improvement from the $23.8 billion in net income the industry reported in the third quarter of 2010. This is the ninth consecutive quarter that earnings registered a year-over-year increase.

"We continue to see income growth that reflects improving asset quality and lower loss provisions," said FDIC Acting Chairman Martin J. Gruenberg. "U.S. banks have come a long way from the depths of the financial crisis. Bank balance sheets are stronger in a number of ways and the industry is generally profitable, but the recovery is by no means complete. Ongoing distress in real estate markets and slow growth in jobs and incomes continue to pose risks to credit quality."

The Board of Directors of Heritage Financial Corp. has declared a special one-time cash dividend of 25 cents per share payable on Dec. 9 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on Nov. 28.

"As our economy slowly emerges from the difficulties of the past couple of years, Heritage finds itself in the enviable position of having a very strong capital base that continues to grow as we grow in profitability," said Brian Vance, president and CEO. "This special dividend is one facet of managing capital as well as rewarding our shareholders."

The Create Jobs for USA fund has surpassed $1 million in donations for a new small business lending program since its Nov. 1 launch, Starbucks and Opportunity Finance Network announced today.

For the effort, Starbucks teamed with OFN - a nationwide network of 180 Community Development Financial Institutions - to oversee the new fund and provide financing to community businesses in underserved markets. Contributions will be awarded as small business loans to create and sustain jobs in underserved markets.