Sterling Savings Bank, of Spokane, has opened a corporate banking center in downtown Portland to seek business from small to mid-sized companies there.


Sterling says the center offers a wide array of corporate banking services, as well as an ATM vestibule and night depository for business customers.


The vibrant business community and commercial business opportunities in the Portland community made it a natural fit for Sterling in extending our Pacific Northwest footprint, Sterling Chairman and CEO Harold Gilkey says.


Sterling, which started life as a savings and loan association but has made a push into commercial banking in recent years, opened the 2,100-square-foot center in the American Bank Building, at 621 S.W. Morrison, in the heart of Portlands downtown area. Steven P. Plambeck, a former vice president and senior relationship manager in U.S. Banks corporate banking division, will oversee the centers staff of seven, which will include corporate bankers, personal bankers, and corporate banking representatives, Sterling says.


Sterling also operates three full-service bank branches in the Portland area, and its subsidiaries in the greater Portland area include Intervest Mortgage Investment Co., which is based in Lake Oswego, Ore., and Action Mortgage Co., which has its central office here.


Sterling also operates a private-banking office in Vancouver, Wash., just north of Portland.