Sterling Financial Corporation was a

bank holding company A bank holding company is a company that controls one or more banks, but does not necessarily engage in banking itself. The compound bancorp (''banc''/''bank'' + '' corp ration') or bancorporation is often used to refer to such companies as w ...

headquartered in

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the most populous city in eastern Washington and the county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It lies along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south o ...

. In 2014, the company was acquired by

Umpqua Holdings Corporation Umpqua Holdings Corporation, Doing business as, d.b.a. Umpqua Bank, was a financial holding company based in downtown Portland, Oregon, Portland, Oregon, United States. Headquarters were in the Umpqua Bank Plaza, formerly the headquarters of Benj ...

. The bank operated 173

branches A branch, also called a ramus in botany, is a stem that grows off from another stem, or when structures like veins in leaves are divided into smaller veins. History and etymology In Old English, there are numerous words for branch, includi ...

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...

History

The company commenced operations in 1983. In 1998, the company acquired 33 branches from

KeyCorp KeyBank is an American regional bank headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, and the 27th largest bank in the United States. Organized under the publicly traded KeyCorp, KeyBank was formed from the 1994 merger of the Cleveland-based Society Corpora ...

. In early 2004, Sterling finalized the acquisition of Klamath First Bancorp Inc. of Klamath Falls, Oregon. In 2007, the company agreed to acquire North Valley Bancorp for $196 million in cash and stock, but the merger was cancelled after failing to win regulatory approval. During the

2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...

, the company received a $303 million investment by the

United States Department of the Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the Treasury, national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States. It is one of 15 current United States federal executive departments, U.S. government departments. ...

as part of the

Troubled Asset Relief Program The Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) is a program of the United States government to purchase toxic assets and equity from financial institutions to strengthen its financial sector that was passed by Congress and signed into law by U.S. Presi ...

(TARP). The bank ultimately repaid the Treasury for all monies owned from TARP. In October 2009, the company received a

cease and desist A cease and desist letter is a document sent by one party, often a business, to warn another party that they believe the other party is committing an unlawful act, such as copyright infringement, and that they will take legal action if the oth ...

order from regulators and initiated executive changes. In 2010, the company raised $730 million in capital to avoid being shut down by regulators.

Thomas H. Lee Partners Thomas H. Lee Partners, L.P. is an American private equity firm headquartered in Boston. The firm focuses on investing in middle market growth companies across various sectors, including financial technology, services, healthcare, technology, ...

and

Warburg Pincus Warburg Pincus LLC is a global private equity firm, headquartered in New York City, with offices in the United States, Europe, Brazil, China, Southeast Asia and India. Warburg has been a private equity investor since 1966. As of April 2024 the f ...

each acquired a 22.6% stake in the company, along with more than 30 other investors. In 2011, the company acquired Vancouver-based First Independent Bank. In 2012, the company changed the name of its bank from Sterling Savings Bank to Sterling Bank and laid off 6% of its workforce. In March 2013, the company acquired American Heritage Holdings for $6.5 million. In May 2013, the company acquired the Seattle-area operations of Boston Private Bank & Trust Company. On September 11, 2013,

announces it is acquiring Sterling Financial Corporation. In October 2013, the company acquired Commerce National Bank of Newport Beach, California for $42.9 million. In February 2014, the company sold 6 branches to Banner Bank. On April 18, 2014,

acquired the company for $2 billion in cash and stock.

External links

References

{{Reflist, 1 1983 establishments in Washington (state) American companies established in 1983 Banks established in 1983 Banks disestablished in 2014 Companies formerly listed on the Nasdaq Defunct banks of the United States 2014 mergers and acquisitions Warburg Pincus companies