Oct. 28--Regents Bancshares Corp., the parent company of Regents Bank in Vancouver, last week became the latest bank to receive federal stimulus money.

The U.S. Treasury purchased $12.7 million of preferred stock in the privately held bank, which is based in La Jolla, Calif., and operates a branch in Vancouver, according to the government agency.

The latest round of TARP funding shouldn't be considered bailout money issued originally to banks that were too big to fail, but instead is a boost to the healthiest community banks in order to increase local lending, said Tom Young, CEO of Regents Bancshares, who's based in Vancouver.

"We're lending and making money, that's why we qualified for this," Young said. "The scrutiny we underwent to receive approval was rigorous."

Regents is one of the few U.S. banks to receive funds under the Troubled Asset Relief Program's capital purchase program since its first round a little more than a year ago. Treasury officials have said the program is winding down, despite recent loans to Regents and Missouri-based Cardinal Bancorp II, according to a Dow Jones Newswires report.

Such latecomers to the program are unusual when speculation abounds that the program is nearly out of cash, said Mike Knebel, senior vice president of Ferguson Wellman Capital Management in Portland.

"It helps bolster the bank's capital and if anything conveys a vote of confidence in the bank and its latest prospects," Knebel said. "A number of small banks the FDIC has just moved in and closed them quickly ... rather than keep it functioning as it is."

More than 100 small banks have been closed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. over the past year on what has become known as "bank fail Fridays." Such banks typically cannot meet the federal requirements for capital reserves. Such was the case with the Bank of Clark County, which failed in January.

Regents is in the "opposite" position, Young said.

The bank, which doesn't publish its financial results, says it hasn't posted a single quarterly loss during the financial crisis, with more than $1 million in profit in the quarter ending Sept. 30. It also claims a risk-based capital ratio of about 14.5 percent as of Sept. 30, compared to a federal requirement for well-capitalized banks of more than 10 percent, said Young.

Regents received three out of five stars, an "adequate" rating, from BauerFinancial in September based on profit and loss trends, capital ratios, the level of delinquent loans and repossessed assets and other measures.

The bank was listed as No. 10 for market share among 18 banks doing business in Clark County with $79.7 million in deposits as of June 30, according to the FDIC. That's up from No. 13 in 2008 with $45.6 million in deposits.

In all, 17 Washington-based banks have received $976.4 million under TARP. But so far only Seattle-based Washington Federal has paid back the funds -- some $200 million -- it borrowed, according to data published online by ProPublica.

Late last year, Umpqua Bank received $214 million through the TARP program to bolster its operations.

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