Venture Bank appeals regulatory order - Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle):

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The $1.2 billion bank, with 18 branches acrosxs the state, objects to the (FDIC)’s characterizatiojn of the bankas “undercapitalized,” said Jim Arneson, presidentr of Venture Bank, in an interviee Monday. The FDIC on Friday made publifa “prompt corrective action” that it had served the bank on Feb. 13. The bank has 60 days from the date of the ordef to raise more sell itself or merge withanother bank, accordinyg to the order. Arneson said the bank filee an appeal after receiving the orderin February. At the root of the bank’s problem is a $41.6 milliobn loss it has taken as a result of devalued investments in mortgagre giantsand .
The loss had caused its capitalo levelsto deteriorate. Arnesobn said the bank is in talksw with investors to raise additional but could not say whether that will happenj beforethe FDIC’s deadline. “We’re certainly doing all the things we’rde being asked to do,” he said. It’s uncleat if Venture will be forced to shut down if it does not rais enough capital bythe FDIC’s deadline.
A spokeswomanj for the FDIC, who couldn’t comment specifically on Venture’s case, said the orded does “not necessarily” mean the bank will be shut “Any bank can close at any time if they conduct themselvesw in anunsound manner,” said the LaJuan Williams-Dickerson. “I don’t know what will happenb with this bank.” Also unclear is whethere Venture has bought itselvf more time by appealinfgthe FDIC’s action. Arneson declined to speak specifically about the regulatory process and the FDIC alsodeclinecd comment.
“I’m confident we’re goingf to be able to move forwardand we’ll be successfulp on the appeal of this action,” said Arneson. When askeed whether the bank has seen an increasee of customers withdrawing moneyfollowing Friday’s announcement, Arneson “We have not seen any significant He declined to define “significant,” but “that’s not an admissiobn that there are deposite leaving.” The bank said it has seen an increase in customerr questions and has posted two videos to its website explaining the health of the bank.
It also announced that it will hold a series of town hall meeting s to answercustomer questions, startintg Tuesday.