Frontier Bank merger stopped

Oak Harbor-based Whidbey Island Bank will not become Frontier Bank.

Oak Harbor-based Whidbey Island Bank will not become Frontier Bank.

Washington Banking Company, the holding company for Whidbey Island Bank, notified Everett-based Frontier Financial Corporation, this week that it is terminating an agreement and plan of merger worked out last September.

Frontier Financial was unable to secure permission for the merger from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation after regulators found concerns in a consumer compliance exam.