Columbia Shutting Mortgage Banking Ops

Columbia Bancorp, The Dalles, Ore., is shutting the in-house mortgage banking operation at its subsidiary Columbia River Bank. The closure will affect approximately 39 employees over the next 60 days as the unit winds down. "Columbia's decision to no longer operate an in-house mortgage lending service was necessary because of the uncertainty in the mortgage markets and the risk associated with the industry," explained Roger Christensen, president and chief executive of Columbia. "This will allow us to focus on our core business services, a central point of our management team's vision for the future." CRB has also fired 20 other employees and eliminated 15 others through attrition. Columbia lost $206,000 ($0.02 per share) in the second quarter, which included a loan loss provision of $5.7 million due to increased risk in its residential construction portfolio. The bank can be found online at http://www.columbiariverbank.com.