Viking Bank has been a fixture in the Ballard community for decades. On Thursday, September 9, Viking Bank and AmericanWest Bank announced that after three years of financial struggles, AmericanWest Bank will acquire Viking Bank.

While this news may come as a disappointment to locals, Landon Brazier, Chairman of Viking Financial, assured us that the merger will be good for the Ballard Community.

"We are merging into an organization that thinks just like us. They believe in excellent customer service. That has long been Viking's motto," Brazer said.

"This organization will now be a stronger support to the community than we have been in recent years. With more financial resources and a larger capital base, we will be able to make larger loans than Viking Bank was ever able to make."

Additionally, Brazier said AmericanWest Bank is interested in the Maritime industry and the community will continue to enjoy the long‐standing stewardship they’ve come to expect from Viking Bank.

"The name's going to change but the level of service will be the same," Brazier said.

Brazier said they're working to ensure that Viking Bank employees will maintain their positions in the bank and customers will notice little change in the bank's service.

"Customers are likely going to wind up dealing with the same people they've been dealing with all along," Brazier said.

For Brazier himself, the merger will allow him to return to retirement.

Brazier explained that the merger wasn't a quick decision. The process started in November 2009 when Viking Bank received a consent order form from the FDIC and were required to increase capital by 10 percent.

"It was no secret that Viking bank was having financial problems," Brazier said.
"Given the state of the economy we had a tough time raising capital."

Earlier this year, AmericanWest Bank and ten other banks expressed interest in acquiring Viking Bank.

"AmericanWest provided the best return for Viking Bank's shareholders, and shares our philosophy on our four contingencies - shareholders, customers, community, and employees," Brazier said.

Under the terms of the definitive merger agreement, Viking Financial shareholders will receive aggregate cash consideration of $7.2 million, or $2.65 per share.

Approximately 41.7 percent of the shareholders of Viking Financial have entered into voting agreements pursuant to which they have agreed to vote all of the shares of Viking Financial owned by them in favor of the transaction.

Currently, AmericanWest Bank has total assets of approximately $2.0 billion and deposits of approximately $1.6 billion. Viking Financial had total assets of $406 million and total deposits of $379 million at June 30, 2011.

Brazier said the merger will close in December and until then Viking Bank will run its banks and make all the decisions while AmericanWest bankers will be around to meet with customers and give the community a chance to get to know them.

"I think [the community] will feel the same way about them as we do," Brazier said.