Regulators seized DuPont-based Venture Bank on Friday night and turned its assets over to Raleigh, N.C.-based First Citizens Bank and Trust Co. — ending a 30-year history as a South Sound community bank.

    The Washington State Department of Financial Institutions closed Venture Bank at 6 p.m. and immediately named the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. as receiver. The bank was then sold to First Citizens, which has assumed all deposits and assets — except for some brokered deposits — of Venture Bank.

    All branches that were regularly scheduled to open today will do so, and the state DFI assures all customers that their deposits and accounts are safe. Venture’s location at 1230 Gold Street in Centralia was open Monday morning. An employee directed all questions related to the change in ownership to an FDIC spokesperson.

    FDIC spokeswoman Linda Beavers, at Venture Bank’s headquarters in DuPont on Friday, said customers will be able to use ATMs, write checks and pay bills.

    “They will continue to (operate) as if nothing happened,” she said about Venture’s branches.

    On Monday, all of Venture’s bank branches throughout Western Washington reopened under the control of First Citizens Bank, Beavers said.

    The demise of Venture was caused by “large loan and investment losses” that depleted the bank’s capital, according to DFI.

    The bank had been under increased regulatory scrutiny for several months. Venture officials have said that failed investments in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac led in large part to the problems, as had loans gone sour in the recession. Recent attempts to raise capital have been unsuccessful.

    A little after 5 p.m. on Friday, Venture Bank employees and some board members began to file into Venture’s main offices in DuPont for a company-wide announcement at 6 p.m. Some employees and board members acknowledged they had been called to a meeting but were given no other information about it, and some employees declined to comment as they entered the building.

    About 6 p.m., signs were posted on doors about the actions taken by state and federal regulators and then they were opened to a team of FDIC employees who will work through the weekend to reopen the bank on Monday, Beavers said. About 80 FDIC employees were sent out to all of Venture’s branches, including about 40 people in DuPont. Three off-duty but uniformed Pierce County sheriff’s deputies also were hired by the FDIC to provide security. Also arriving in DuPont on Friday were executives and staff from First Citizens Bank and staff members of the state Department of Financial Institutions.

    Venture Bank President and CEO Jim Arneson and Venture Financial Chairman Ken Parsons Sr. could not be reached for comment.

    The FDIC employees who showed up to help Friday arrived in stages so as to not overwhelm Venture’s employees, Beavers said. Venture Bank staff also would be asked to stay and help with the transition Friday, but they did not have to, she said. About 30 pizzas were delivered to Venture’s main offices during the evening.

    Unlike other takeover transactions in the state that have seen the FDIC bear much of the financial responsibility for losses, the transaction with First Citizens will be a “whole bank transaction,” said DFI’s head of banks Brad Williamson on Friday afternoon.

    As of July 28, 2009, Venture Bank had total assets of $970 million and total deposits of approximately $903 million. In addition to assuming all of the deposits of the failed bank, First Citizens agreed to purchase approximately $874 million of the assets. The FDIC will retain the remaining assets for later disposition. The agreement also says that the FDIC and First Citizens will share in any losses on approximately $715 million of Venture Bank’s assets. The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund will be $298 million.

    Venture was the 92nd bank to fail this year, according to FDIC data.

    “Up to now, no acquiring institutions have wanted to take on the problem loans. For the first time, a bank has taken on the loans as well. There is loss-exposure here. I hope that this is a precursor of confidence in the banking community,” Williamson said.

    Williamson said two Northwest banks had also made bids for Venture, although he would not name them. Other banks from outside the area may also have bid.

    “The fact that it’s a bank that isn’t in the same market area — I think does preserve more jobs. From a local employment perspective, it is good news for the employees of the banks and the communities,” he said.

    Clarifying the process of the takeover, Williamson said, “It is not widely understood in most press reporting that the board of directors of the bank has consented, and has basically given us the bank. We have received a bank from the board of directors.”

    Venture, he said, “is insolvent. They have recently re-filed regulatory reports, and those reports show them to be insolvent — with negative capital.”

    First Citizens Bank is an 111-year-old, publicly traded bank that operates 373 branches in North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, Maryland, California and Washington.

    First Citizens has a small presence in Washington. Its subsidiary, IronStone Bank, has offices in Seattle and Portland, Ore.

    According to the First Citizen Web site, “we continue to expand into new markets.”

    Buying Venture Bank gives the company a network of branches on Interstate 5 near its IronStone bank branches in Seattle and Portland.

    “It’s a terrific complement to our West Coast franchise,” First Citizens spokeswoman Barbara Thompson said Friday.

    She also said the company has made no decisions about Venture Bank’s staff and declined to comment about possible changes with Venture Bank’s management.

Venture Bank: 30 years in South Sound

By The Olympian

1979 — Opens as Lacey Bank.

1981 — Changes name to First Community Bank.

1993 — Merges with Citizens First Bank in Grays Harbor County.

1995 — Opens a financial center in Centralia and merges with Northwest Community Bank in Tacoma.

1997 — Acquires Prairie Security Bank in Yelm and four branches from Wells Fargo Bank in Montesano, Hoquiam, Toledo and Winlock.

August 2002 — First Community Financial Group purchases the troubled Harbor Bank of Gig Harbor for $7 million.

2003 — Changes its name to Venture Bank.

2004 — Opens its first branch in King County.

June 2004 — Venture announces it will sell seven small-town branches to Timberland Bank.

August 2005 — Acquires Redmond National Bank in Redmond. Redmond President Jim Arneson rejoins Venture Bank as president and chief executive.

March 2005 — Venture presents a concert featuring The Ventures, a Northwest rock band, with the goal of getting the band named to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

May 2007 — Venture announces first-quarter income of $3.2 million — the highest ever for the bank. Assets reach a “milestone” of $1.062 billion.

June 2007 — Venture opens its three-story, $13 million administrative headquarters in DuPont.

July 2007 — Bank-holding company Venture Financial Group Inc., which owns Venture Bank, submits plan to Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering.

February 2008 — Venture signs a five-year sponsorship deal with the Tacoma Rainiers.

September 2008 — Venture Financial Group withdraws its plan for an IPO.

November 2008 — Bank reports its largest quarterly loss in company history. Venture President Jim Arneson said, “We’re not used to reporting losses.”

March 2009 — The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation discloses on its Web site that it has written to Venture Bank, urging it to raise more money, find a buyer or find a merger partner.

April 2009 — In a sixth town-hall style meeting in Tumwater, Venture Bank officials publicly acknowledge the bank needs to raise about $20 million to be considered well-capitalized.

January through August 2009 — In a series of filings, Venture Financial Group discloses to SEC that its annual report for 2008 and quarterly earnings for the first and second quarters of 2009 will be late.

August 2009 — Venture Financial discloses to SEC that public accounting firm Moss Adams of Seattle has notified the company that it will not audit Venture in 2009.

September 2009 — Venture Bank is acquired by First Citizens Bank and Trust Company.