Mountain West lays off 6 people
Changes in the local economy and changes in the way customers prefer to bank are resulting in changes at the Whitefish branch of Mountain West Bank.
Kelly St. Onge, branch president for the Whitefish and Kalispell branches, said that starting Monday the Whitefish bank no longer will keep its lobby open all day long and will reduce hours at the drive-up windows by 30 minutes a day.
People may schedule appointments with bank personnel any time between 8:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays by calling 863-2265. The drive-up windows will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays.
Bank customers already have been notified of the changes, St. Onge said, “and for the most part they have been very receptive.”
Six bank employees in both Whitefish and Kalispell will be laid off as a result of the changes, according to Mountain West Bank Chief Operating Officer Mike Dalton. Some Whitefish employees now will work at the Kalispell office.
According to Montana Public Radio, Mountain West laid off two employees in Helena, one in Great Falls and one in Missoula. Dalton said the bad economy and the resulting lack of customer borrowing mean the bank needs to reduce expenses.
“We have money to loan, but no borrowers. We then, of course, have to look at the other side of the income statement, that is the expense side,” Dalton said.
The volume of customer traffic coming through the bank doors in Whitefish has decreased tremendously in the last couple of years, St. Onge said, as more and more people choose to use the Internet for their banking needs.
Mountain West Bank now allows customers to open accounts online, pay bills online, plus check account balances, transfer funds and take care of nearly all their banking business via the Internet.
St. Onge said the operational changes “are completely unrelated to the regulatory” issues the bank is addressing. A year and a half ago, Mountain West Bank officials entered into a voluntary agreement with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to strengthen the Montana-based bank, he said. Personnel at that agency ordered to the bank to raise $6 million in capital, according to The Associated Press. That was a result of defaulted loans or the possibility of defaulted loans from developers and subdivisions around Bozeman, Missoula and the Flathead Valley.
Dalton said Mountain West has raised more than $7.5 million from shareholders.
“We were above the standard for what’s called a well-capitalized bank, but because we had some challenges in our loan portfolio they wanted to make sure we had more capital to back up any potential problems that we might have,” Dalton said.
The comptroller of the currency regulates and supervises all national banks. It is an independent bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury with a primary concern of ensuring that banks operate in “a safe and sound manner and in compliance with laws requiring fair treatment of their customers and fair access to credit and financial products,” according to its website.
Mountain West Bank is based in Great Falls with branches in Kalispell, Whitefish, Missoula, Bozeman and Helena and a mortgage office in Polson. It has about 36,000 customers.
No other banks have had to lay off employees in the state, but some will also have to reduce their operating expenses, said Annie Goodwin, commissioner of the Montana Division of Banking.
“We are finding other banks in Montana are facing similar challenges in reviewing their operating expenses, their loan portfolios as well as their allowances for loan loss reserves in the event those need to be utilized for loans that are not being paid by borrowers,” Goodwin said.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.