The Wahkiakum County Eagle - Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891

Pacific Financial Corporation (PFC), the holding company for Bank of the Pacific, last Friday announced plans to close branches in Naselle and Warrenton.

According to a PFC news release, both branches will retain an automated teller machine (ATMs) in their respective locations.

Effective February 1, 2019, customer accounts from the Naselle branch will be consolidated into the nearby Long Beach or Cathlamet branches. The Warrenton accounts will be consolidated into the adjoining Astoria or Seaside branches in Coastal Oregon.

PFC attributed the branch office closures to declining customer traffic.

“Based on a thorough assessment of the current and future banking environment, the declining use of the physical branch is becoming increasingly apparent,” said Denise Portmann, President and Chief Executive Officer.

"In the case of Naselle, branch transactions have steadily declined in concert with the decline in its population and increased use of online tools to access banking services. As such, the branch has been operating on limited hours for some time. It makes sense to transfer our customer accounts to more viable nearby locations

“Fortunately, due to retirement and other staffing opportunities at this time, there will be minimal impact to our employees. We will be able to retain a majority of the staff from Naselle and relocate them to other branches.

“Similarly, the Warrenton branch was also not achieving its desired market penetration, and nearby branches in our Seaside and Astoria markets attracted the bulk of the deposits in Clatsop County in recent years.

"In fact, per data recently released by the FDIC, the city of Warrenton has the smallest average branch size for banks in Clatsop County compared to other cities within the county. We believe our customers will have minimal disruption as we transfer their accounts to neighboring branches in Astoria or Seaside.

“While we are closing the physical locations in Naselle and Warrenton, business development efforts will continue in both markets.

"In the meantime, customers from Naselle and Warrenton will each be receiving a letter in the coming days outlining the details of the transition.

"Customers will continue to have access to all of our branch locations as well as our technology-based banking services such as mobile banking, remote deposit capture, ATMs, debit cards and online banking.

"We believe optimizing our branch network plays a significant role in prudently allocating our capital resources. The financial impact of these transactions is anticipated to result in a reduction of $437,000 in operating costs. We will take a one-time charge of approximately $60,000 for associated closing costs, including severance and write-down of fixed assets."