Fed Ends Enforcement Action on First Financial Northwest

By Chris Cumming April 26, 2013, 5:26 p.m. EDT 1 Min Read

Community banking

Regulators Freeing More Banks from Formal Orders

Expect the rate of terminated enforcement actions to increase in coming months as more banks get a handle on their problems, industry observers say.

By Andy Peters

April 15
Community banking

Dissident Investor's Board Choice Joins First Financial Northwest in Wash.

A dissident investor's candidate has joined the board at First Financial Northwest (FFNW) in Renton, Wash., ending a costly legal dispute.

By Chris Cumming

March 18

First Financial Northwest (FFNW) in Renton, Wash., has been freed from an enforcement action.

The $887 million-asset company said Friday that the Federal Reserve Board has lifted a memorandum of understanding signed in April 2010. The termination will allow First Financial to consider paying a dividend and repurchasing stock, it said.

On April 5, First Financial announced that the central bank had partially lifted the order, and that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. had terminated an action against its banking unit, First Savings Bank Northwest.

On Tuesday, First Financial reported that it made a $1.6 million profit in the first quarter, $1 million more than a year earlier. Its Tier 1 leverage ratio was 17.46%, and its total risk-based capital ratio 27.82% as of March 31.

"We are pleased that the Federal Reserve has acknowledged the significant improvements we have accomplished," Joseph Kiley, president and chief executive of First Savings Bank Northwest, said in the news release. "Going forward, we are now in a position to consider future repurchases of our common stock and the payment of cash dividends to our shareholders."

Chris Cumming