Columbia Bancorp (CBBO) Announces Closure of Columbia River Bank's Mortgage Banking Team

September 5, 2008 8:12 AM EDT

Columbia Bancorp (Nasdaq: CBBO) announced a strategic initiative intended to streamline its overall business operations in response to the current banking environment. The focus of the initiative is the closure of Columbia River Bank's Mortgage Banking Team. This closure will affect approximately 39 mortgage banking employees over the next 60 days as the mortgage division winds down. "Columbia's decision to no longer operate an in-house mortgage lending service was necessary because of the uncertainty in the mortgage markets and the risk associated with the industry. This will allow us to focus on our core business services, a central point of our management team's vision for the future," explained Roger Christensen, President and CEO of Columbia.

On September 4, 2008, Columbia River Bank also notified staff of a reduction in force immediately affecting approximately 20 other employees. The reduction involved almost every branch in the bank's four regional areas of operation, as well as the administrative offices. In conjunction with this move, approximately 15 additional positions have been eliminated through normal attrition. "This was an extremely difficult decision to make, but was necessary in order to position Columbia for the future," explained Christensen.

Columbia Bancorp (Columbia) is a financial holding company for its wholly owned subsidiary, Columbia River Bank (the Bank), an Oregon state-chartered bank. [SM]

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