Whidbey, Frontier bank merger is off
Whidbey Island Bank, which has a branch in Friday Harbor, will not become Frontier Bank.

Washington Banking Company, the holding company for Whidbey Island Bank, has notified Everett-based Frontier Financial Corporation that it is terminating an agreement and plan of merger worked out last September.

The problem is that Frontier Financial was unable to secure permission for the merger from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation after regulators found concerns in a consumer compliance exam of Frontier.

“We’re disappointed, but at the same time, this gives us more opportunities,” said Washington Banking Company CEO and President Michal Cann. He said the company will explore options, which include remaining independent or partnering with a different bank.

In the meantime, Whidbey Island Bank will likely be hiring back support staff who were lost in the merger process.

— Whidbey News Times

Local CEO in White House tech dialogue
Mark Anderson, CEO of Strategic News Service, will be a guest of the White House, the State Department and the World Bank this week as part of an ongoing Australian/American Leadership Dialogue.

Subjects will include the buildout of a global supercomputer network linked by optical fiber, the global economy, and foreign policy issues.

Anderson recently selected Australia as the country with the greatest promise of the decade. His most recent Future in Review Conference (www.futureinreview.com) included a live link from the most advanced supercomputing/supervisualization lab, CalIT2 at University of California, San Diego (also known as the “FiRe Lab”), and just-completed matching facilities at Melbourne, Australia.