Frontier Bank expands in Seattle

Frontier Bank plans to open a new branch in downtown Seattle before the end of the year.

The Everett-based bank is moving to capitalize on opportunities created by the merger of Wells Fargo and Pacific Northwest Bank, said John Dickson, Frontier’s chief executive.

Frontier announced Wednesday that it has received regulatory approval to open the branch, which will be in the IBM building at 1200 Fifth Ave.

It will be Frontier’s 39th branch, and its first foray into downtown Seattle, although Frontier has had a branch in north Seattle’s Lake City area.

The new branch will be staffed by seven bankers who were with Pacific Northwest Bank before the merger and who decided to move to another community bank, Dickson said. Those bankers already have relationships with potential clients, and Frontier hopes it will be "an opportunity for us to grow our loans and deposits substantially," he said.

The group includes James Liming, who was a senior vice president and team leader for Pacific Northwest Bank. He will be a senior vice president and metro division manager for Frontier.

Frontier will continue to look for more experienced bankers with the goal of opening more Seattle branches, he said.

The bank’s branch network now extends from Bellingham to Pierce County. Establishing a bigger presence in Seattle "would fill in some of our empty spots down the I-5 corridor," Dickson said.

Pacific Northwest Bank began as Oak Harbor-based InterWest Bank. InterWest bought Seattle-based Pacific Northwest Bank in 1998 and took its name. Following a reorganization in 2000, the bank moved its headquarters to Seattle.

Shares of stock in Frontier Financial Corp., the bank’s parent company, closed at an all-time high of $32.10 Wednesday.

Reporter Bryan Corliss: 425-339-3454 or corliss@heraldnet.com.

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