Boston Private Bank & Trust Company, a subsidiary of Boston Private Financial Holdings, is to sell its three Pacific Northwest offices to Spokane, WA-based Sterling Financial Corporation.

At end-September, the Pacific Northwest offices - located in Seattle and Redmond - had some $270 million in gross loans and $190 million in deposits.

Clayton Deutsch, chief executive and president of Boston Private Financial Holdings, said the move will allow the firm to concentrate its private banking resources in New England, the San Francisco Bay Area and Southern California - two of the three deepest concentrations of high net worth clients in the US, he said.

According to Deutsch, the transaction - expected to close in the first half of 2013 - will result in an $11 million deposit premium and will free up in excess of $30 million in capital. Financial details were not disclosed. 

A Sterling spokesperson told Family Wealth Report that the customers and employees of the three offices being sold to Sterling will move to being Sterling Bank customers and employees after customary approvals and final closure of the deal.

In other recent news, at the end of November Michael Cohen was named senior vice president and director of operations of Boston Private Bank & Trust, charged with ensuring that all operational components are running efficiently across the bank.