City Bank down 50%

[Joanne98]

Feb 2 (Reuters) - City Bank (CTBK.O), a community bank based in Washington state, swung to a fourth-quarter loss as provision for loan losses ballooned and credit quality in its residential construction portfolio declined further, and said it saw a downturn in its regulatory capital position.

Net loss for the latest quarter was $39.9 million, or $2.53 a share, compared with a profit of $10.2 million, or 65 cents a share, a year earlier.

"The key challenge for the bank is to continue the orderly liquidation of non-performing assets and to improve the bank's liquidity position," Chief Executive Conrad Hanson said in a statement.

As of Dec. 31, 2008, non-performing assets totaled $679.8 million, or about half of its total assets.

Provision for loan losses leaped to $58 million, from $1.1 million in the same quarter a year ago. The company had a bad-loan provision of $28 million in the latest third quarter.

The bank said it plans to sell its non-performing assets to reduce its exposure to residential construction lending.

http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idINBNG42689220090202?rpc=44

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=CTBK