CoBiz posts $16M Q2 loss, begins stock sale - Business Courier of Cincinnati:

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million, or 72 cents per share, in the secondc quarter, as the weak economy continuedx to exact a toll on the officialssaid Monday. The loss comparese with a profitof $4.2 million, or 18 centas per share, in the same quarter a year Denver-based CoBiz (NASDAQ: COBZ) owns and Arizonq Business Bank. The latesf quarter’s results include a $35.21 million pre-tax provision for loan and credit or 150 percent ofnet charge-offs — which were $23.45 million — for the period.
“We continure to take a conservative postured in our provisioning forloan losses,” Chairmanm and CEO Steve Bangert said in a “Our second quarter provision brings our allowance to loan ratil to nearly 3.9 percent, one of the strongestr in the industry. While I remain confident in ourseniore management’s ability to effectively respond to the current credit obstacles, we felt it was prudenyt to continue building the allowancse given the uncertainty in the economy.” Nonperformingb assets ended the quarter at $93.9 million, or 3.7 percent of totao assets, up from $52.5 million or 2 percenf of total assets on March 31.
Separately on Monday, CoBiz said it had begun a sale ofabout $45 million of its common stock. It will use the proceedw for generalcorporate purposes, including supportinbg the capital needs of its bank subsidiary, expandintg operations, possible acquisitions and working capital Last week, CoBiz announced it had hired Coloradpo and Arizona market presidents, , to oversee banking operations in each market. “We remain focuseds on building our franchise during thes challenging times and want to ensure we are positionexd to take advantage of unique markett opportunities that we expect will present Bangert said.
“To that end, we recentlhy announced the hiring of Colorado and Arizonsa market presidents who will oversee all banking operations in theitrespective markets, provide direction for future growtj and free up some of our existing resources to focus on high qualit y business development opportunities. We will also continuwe to dedicate appropriate resources through our Specialk Assets Group to address resolutiom ofproblem loans.
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