The Federal Reserve is the bank’s primary Federal regulator. The state regulator is the Washington Department of Financial Institutions. Both agencies would have had to approve the transaction. Neither agency has any enforcement action against the bank as of 11/23/22. Given the small size of the bank, there is no requirement for SEC filings or audited financial statements with an audit firm’s unqualified opinion.
Correction: at the time the current group acquired the bank, the primary Federal regulator was the FDIC. The bank later switched to the Federal Reserve as primary regulator. For any bank to switch Federal regulators, it must be rated satisfactory in the areas of safety and soundness, consumer compliance, the Community Reinvestment Act, and IT. So the bank was in a financially sound and compliant position as of the time when it switched Federal regulators. However, since the bank was acquired by a firm that would become a bank holding company, the change in control would be subject to three agencies: the Federal Reserve, the FDIC, and the State regulator.
The ownership of a bank is really not controlled once it has passed the barriers to entry. The fact is a bank with a valuation of 10 Million has 300 Million in commercial and home lending as assets and anther 100 Million under custody.
20 Million per year per Billion dollars under custody is a mid market bank ratio. The spending to support a bank of that side makes profitability very difficult as 4 to 10 million goes to just keeping the officers, paperwork and legal fees covered.