EVERETT — Sterling Savings Bank is expanding its three-branch presence in Snohomish County with a push into commercial banking.
Spokane-based Sterling has hired Mike Tsoukalas as the team leader for its effort. He has more than 10 years of local commercial banking experience with EverTrust Bank, Coastal Community Bank and Mountain Pacific Bank.
Sterling Savings’ new commercial lending operation fills a gap in the bank’s coverage area along the I-5 corridor between Chehalis and Blaine, said Robert Weisel, Sterling’s market president for the Puget Sound region.
“This is a place we wanted to be,” he said.
Tsoukalas’ Everett office, at 2917 Pacific Ave., will handle customers in Snohomish County. As Sterling adds members to Tsoukalas’ team, it will expand to serve businesses in Skagit and Whatcom counties.
“Our goal is to bring to banking relationships the capabilities of big banks with the ‘high touch’ of community banks,” Weisel said. “Mike knows the community well.”
In the near term, Sterling will work to grow its commercial and industrial banking relationships with new customers, said Paul Dini, senior vice president and Sterling’s Puget Sound regional director.
In the long term, “We want to be recognized as the best community bank,” he said.
“The bank is committed to this,” Tsoukalas said. “The level of resources is there. I’m excited about the team concept.”
Sterling Savings has retail branches in Lynnwood, Mountlake Terrace and Stanwood. Across the state, it has about 175 retail branches and nine other commercial banking offices. It also has branches in California, Idaho, Montana and Oregon.
The bank accepted federal assistance from the Troubled Assets Relief Program, Weisel said, but those loans have been repaid and Sterling Savings now is considered well capitalized.
Regulatory reform is creating more expenses for small banks, Weisel said. As a result, he expects to see more consolidation in the years ahead, “but there’s still a place for regional banks like Sterling,” he said.
Should Sterling Savings find itself in a position to grow in the years ahead, Weisel said, it would be within its current five-state market.
Sterling Savings could be in a position to gain new customers as big national banks impose an array of new fees, such as Bank of America’s recent decision to charge $5 per month when a customer makes a purchase with a debit card.
Unpopular as Bank of America’s debit-card fee decision was, Weisel said it’s a natural result of the regulations all banks now face.
Sterling isn’t charging such fees now and has no plans to do so anytime soon, he said.
“We’ll hold the ground (on fees) as long as possible,” Weisel said.
Kurt Batdorf is editor of the Snohomish County Business Journal; 425-339-3102, kbatdorf@scbj.com.
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