Bank of Nevada parent company reports quarterly loss

By Steve Green (contact)

Thursday, Jan. 21, 2010 | 4:21 p.m.

Western Alliance Bancorporation, parent company of Bank of Nevada, on Thursday said it lost $26.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2009 as it wrote off $36.4 million of bad loans.

For Las Vegas-based Western Alliance, the quarterly loss amounted to 41 cents per share and included an impairment charge of $4.1 million for its Shine Investment Advisory Services business.

In the same quarter of 2008, Western Alliance lost $148.3 million or $3.94 per share. The 2008 quarter included $118.9 million in securities impairment charges.

With the recession making it difficult for some borrowers to make their loan payments, Western Alliance said that in the fourth quarter – besides the $36.4 million in loans charged off -- it set aside another $4 million to cover future loan losses.

Nonaccrual loans and repossessed assets totaled $237 million or 4.12 percent of total assets at Dec. 31, compared with $239.1 million or 4.10 percent of total assets at Sept. 30 and $72.8 million or 1.39 percent of total assets at Dec. 31, 2008.

Western Alliance’s Nevada banking operations -- Bank of Nevada and First Independent Bank of Nevada -- reported that loans declined $36.5 million during the fourth quarter and fell $206.6 million during the last 12 months to $2.45 billion at Dec. 31.

Western Alliance in October announced plans to close four of its 41 offices in Nevada and Arizona, including three Bank of Nevada offices in the Las Vegas area. On Thursday, Western Alliance said it had trimmed its staff by 9 percent to 930 full-time equivalent employees in the fourth quarter.

Despite the quarterly loss, Western Alliance said it remains in sound financial shape and it indicated it's interested in expanding.

“Despite continued economic weakness in our markets, we made progress toward our performance-improvement goals during the quarter by holding non-performing assets flat, posting record net interest income, reducing our expenses and improving our core earning power as measured by our pretax, pre-provision operating income,’’ Chairman and Chief Executive Robert Sarver said in a statement. ``With our strong capital position and ample liquidity, we are strategically positioned to take advantage of quality loan and deposit opportunities in the new year as the economy continues to improve.”