Klamath First Expanding Commercial Lending

KLAMATH FALLS, OR-Klamath First Bancorp Inc. said Tuesday it would expand its commercial lending presence in order to improve the financial performance of the company. Klamath First president and CEO Kermit Houser said the company has determined that the traditional lending practices of booking 30 year fixed rate loans for its own portfolio no longer has the spread income required of a high performing lending institution.

As a result, the company is now selling the majority of its new fixed rate mortgage production, both servicing retained and servicing released, through various secondary market channels, and greater emphasis will be placed on higher yielding/shorter term loans such as commercial real estate lending, small business, commercial/industrial and consumer lending.

The change in strategy also comes with a change in management: Robert A. Tucker was promoted to executive vice president and chief credit officer; Marshall J. Alexander to executive vice president, chief financial officer and investor relations; Craig Moore to senior vice president, in-house counsel, corporate secretary and senior internal auditor, and; James Essany to senior vice president of marketing and advertising.