Glacier Bancorp has declined participation in the US Treasury’s capital purchase programme which is part of the troubled assets relief programme.
In November 2008, Glacier was notified that it had been approved for participation in the capital purchase programme (CPP), but the company recently informed representatives of the US Treasury Department of its decision to forego participation.
Glacier also announced that it has elected to take part in the Federal Deposit Insurance’s (FDIC’s) transaction account guarantee programme, providing a full guarantee on all non-interest-bearing transaction accounts held by any depositor, regardless of dollar amount, through December 31, 2009. Additionally, Glacier is eligible for participation in the FDIC’s debt guarantee programme which provides for the guarantee of eligible newly issued senior unsecured debt of participating entities.
Mick Blodnick, CEO of Glacier Bancorp, said: We greatly appreciate the federal government’s recognition of our financial strength in approving Glacier’s participation in the troubled assets relief programme’s (TARP’s) CPP.
However, with the $94 million in net proceeds from our successful common stock offering, we are already one of the most strongly capitalised banking companies in the country, with total risk-based capital of approximately 16%. Consequently, we do not believe that participation in the TARP is in our shareholders’ best interests.
