A message from our Chairman & CEO

You may have seen news reports about a few bank failures. I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the current situation and provide reassurance about the financial strength and long-term focus of Peoples Bank.
 
The success of every financial institution is dependent upon the confidence that customers making deposits today can withdraw them tomorrow. The banks that failed did so because customers lost faith that their money was safe and secure. When that happened, the banks found themselves without sufficient capital to liquidate risky and highly concentrated investments and subsequently could not meet customer demands for liquidity.
 
How does this affect Peoples Bank? Very little. Our risk management strategy is designed to protect our investments and customers from market volatility. We do not engage in cryptocurrency transactions, and we avoid lending to high-risk industries.
 
Peoples Bank is privately held and locally managed. We have been serving customers for over 100 years because we avoid making decisions based on short-term gains, so we can stay focused on our long-term financial strength. What sets Peoples Bank apart from the banks that failed is how we handle liquidity. Simply put:

• We rely on core deposits to fund our loans, and not more volatile funding sources that may not be available if the Bank was ever to be under stress.

• Unbalanced concentrations are one of the primary reasons banks can fail. Our core deposits and outstanding loans are well-diversified across many industries and are not highly concentrated in any one sector.

• As of the end of December 2022, we had over 10% of our assets in cash at the Federal Reserve.

• When you add our short-term investment portfolio to our cash at the Federal Reserve, we have over 25% of our assets in liquid investments.

 
In addition to this, we maintain high levels of capital. Our capital and reserves enable us to withstand losses so we can continue to operate and lend to well-qualified borrowers through market ups and downs.
 
Banking is about more than money, it’s about trust. You need to be able to trust where you have your savings, your child’s college fund, your employees’ payroll, or your home’s mortgage. That’s why we are proud to be your banking partner, and why we work so hard to protect what you’ve worked so hard to build.
 
Thank you for taking the time to read this, for trusting us with your banking, and for being a valued customer of Peoples Bank.
 
Sincerely,
 
Charles LeCocq
Chairman of the Board & Chief Executive Officer
Peoples Bank
 
For more information about the financial strength of Peoples Bank, please review our most recent earnings at https://www.peoplesbank-wa.com/about-us/strong-numbers/.