HispanicBusiness

HILLSBORO, OR -- (Marketwire) -- 10/26/12 -- Columbia Commercial Bancorp (OTCBB: CLBC), a single bank holding company for Columbia Community Bank (the Bank), reports a net profit of $294,000, or $0.09 per diluted share for the third quarter of 2012 compared to $133,000 and $211,000, or $0.04 and $0.07 per diluted share, for the second and first quarters of 2012, respectively. For the nine months ended September 30, 2012 net income was $638,000, or $0.20 per diluted share, compared to net income of $24,000, or $0.01 per diluted share, for the same nine month period in 2011.

"We continue to see the successes of our strategic initiatives," states the Company's President and CEO, Rick A. Roby. And he continues, "Growth in core deposits over the past year has allowed the Company to use these funds and other low-yielding excess liquidity to continually pay-down high cost liabilities while also growing loans which have resulted in increasing net interest income despite a low interest rate environment and a very competitive loan market. This along with a continued reduction in problem loan related expenses and the strengthening of the Bank's loan portfolio, meaning no loan loss provision expense, profitability continues to improve."

Assets

Total assets as of September 30, 2012 at $346.0 million were down $6.6 million, or 1.9%, when compared to the $352.6 million as of December 31, 2011 and were down $18.3 million, or 5.0%, when compared to the $364.3 million as of September 30, 2011. "A reduction in the overall assets over the past year shows the Company has been successful with its deleveraging strategy, but just as importantly, the recent increase in outstanding loans shows the Company is succeeding at improving its asset mix," states Mr. Roby. Outstanding loans were $243.8 million as of September 30, 2012, which was an increase of $5.4 million or 2.3% since December 31, 2011 when they were $238.4 million. Mr. Johnson, the Company's Chief Credit Officer comments, "With the competitive nature of our markets today and the continued reduction of problematic construction and development loans, we are very pleased to be seeing overall loan growth when compared to last year, and especially the net growth over this past quarter which exceeded $3.0 million." Construction and land development loans were $44.5 million, or 18.5% of loans, as of September 30, 2011 and were down $9.1 million to $35.4 million, or 14.5% of loans, as of September 30, 2012. And included in this amount are $6.4 million of commercial construction projects in process.

The allowance for loan losses was $7.0 million, or 2.86% of loans, as of September 30, 2012 which is relatively consistent with the $7.1 million, or 2.97% of loans as of December 31, 2011. For the first nine months of 2012, loan charge-offs were $1.6 million, loan recoveries were $1.5 million and there has been no loan loss provision expense, therefore minimal net change to the allowance for loan losses this year. For the first nine months of 2011, there were $1.6 million in loan charge-offs, $232,000 in recoveries, and a $1.4 million loan loss provision expense.