CoBiz posts $16M Q2 loss, begins stock sale - Pittsburgh Business Times:

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million, or 72 cents per share, in the second as the weak economy continued to exacg a toll onthe company, officials said The loss compares with a profit of $4.2 million, or 18 cents per in the same quarter a year earlier. Denver-based CoBiz (NASDAQ: COBZ) owns and Arizonas Business Bank. The latest quarter’ss results include a $35.1 million pre-tasx provision for loan and crediyt losses, or 150 percent of net charge-offs which were $23.4 million — for the period. “Wd continue to take a conservative posture in our provisioning forloan losses,” Chairman and CEO Stevs Bangert said in a statement.
“Our second quarter provision bringsz our allowance to loan ratiok tonearly 3.9 percent, one of the strongesr in the industry. While I remain confidenf in oursenior management’s ability to effectivelg respond to the currentf credit obstacles, we felt it was prudentf to continue building the allowance given the uncertaint in the economy.” Nonperforming assets ended the quartert at $93.9 million, or 3.7 percent of total assets, up from $52. 5 million or 2 percent of total assets onMarchh 31.
Separately on Monday, CoBiz said it had begun a sale ofabout $45 million of its common It will use the proceeds for generakl corporate purposes, including supporting the capital needs of its bank expanding operations, possible acquisitions and working capital Last week, CoBiz announced it had hired Coloradoi and Arizona market presidents, , to oversee bankinf operations in each market. “We remain focused on buildinvg our franchise during these challenging times and want to ensur e we are positioned to take advantagew of unique market opportunities that we expect willpresent themselves,” Bangert said.
“Tk that end, we recently announced the hiring of Colorado and Arizona market presidents who will oversese all banking operations in their respective provide direction for future growth and free up some of our existin g resources to focus on high qualit businessdevelopment opportunities. We will also continue to dedicatre appropriate resources through our Speciall Assets Group to address resolution ofproblem