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Sterling Financial Corporation of Spokane, Wash., Announces Extension of Rights Plan to Preserve Tax Assets

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^{Published in Business and Finance on Thursday, December 9th 2010 at 18:20 GMT by Market Wire}  

SPOKANE, Wash.--([ BUSINESS WIRE ])--[ Sterling Financial Corporation ] (NASDAQ:STSA), (aSterlinga), the bank holding company of [ Sterling Savings Bank ], today announced that it has entered into an amendment to its Shareholder Rights Plan designed to preserve substantial tax assets. The amendment extends the expiration of the Rights Plan until August 26, 2013.

"Highest Customer Satisfaction with Retail Banking in the Northwest Region"

Sterling's Board of Directors originally adopted the Rights Plan on April 14, 2010 and has concluded that extending the Rights Plan is in the best interests of Sterling and its shareholders. The plan is similar to tax benefit preservation plans adopted by other public companies with significant tax attributes. Sterlinga�s tax attributes include net operating losses, capital losses and certain built-in losses that it could utilize in certain circumstances to offset taxable income and reduce its federal income tax liability.

Sterlinga�s ability to use its tax attributes would be substantially limited if there were an aownership changea as defined under Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code and related Internal Revenue Service pronouncements. In general, an ownership change would occur if Sterlinga�s a5-percent shareholders,a as defined under Section 382, collectively increase their ownership in Sterling by more than 50 percentage points over a rolling three-year period. Five-percent shareholders do not include certain institutional holders, such as mutual fund companies, that hold Sterling equity securities on behalf of several individual mutual funds where no single fund owns 5 percent or more of Sterling equity securities. The Rights Plan is designed to discourage such an ownership change.

Additional information regarding the tax benefit preservation plan will be contained in a Form 8-K and in a Registration Statement on Form 8-A/A that Sterling Financial Corporation is filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

About Sterling Financial Corporation

[ Sterling Financial Corporation ] of Spokane, Wash., is the bank holding company for Sterling [ Savings Bank ], a commercial bank. The bank is state chartered and federally insured. Sterling offers banking products and services, mortgage lending, construction financing and investment products to individuals, small businesses, commercial organizations and corporations. As of Sept. 30, 2010, [ Sterling Financial Corporation ] had assets of $10.03 billion and operated 178 depository branches throughout Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and California. Visit Sterlinga�s website at [ www.sterlingfinancialcorporation-spokane.com ].

[ Sterling Savings Bank ] ranked aHighest Customer Satisfaction with Retail Banking in the Northwest Regiona in the J.D. Power and Associates 2010 Retail Banking Satisfaction Study.a" Sterling Savings Bank received the highest numerical score among retail banks in the Northwest region in the proprietary J.D. Power and Associates 2010 Retail Banking Satisfaction Studya". The study was based on 47,673 total responses measuring 6 providers in the Northwest Region (OR, WA) and measures opinions of consumers with their primary banking provider. Proprietary study results are based on experiences and perceptions of consumers surveyed in January 2010. Your experiences may vary. Visit [ jdpower.com ].

Forward-Looking Statements

This release contains forward-looking statements that are not historical facts and that are intended to be covered by the safe harbor for aforward-looking statementsa provided by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements may include, but are not limited to, statements about Sterlinga�s plans, objectives, expectations, strategy and intentions and other statements contained in this release that are not historical facts and pertain to Sterlinga�s future operating results and capital position, including Sterlinga�s ability to complete recovery plans, and Sterlinga�s ability to reduce future loan losses, improve its deposit mix, execute its asset resolution initiatives, execute its lending initiatives, contain costs, realize operating efficiencies and provide increased customer support and service. When used in this release, the words aexpects,a aanticipates,a aintends,a aplans,a abelieves,a aseeks,a aestimatesa and similar expressions are generally intended to identify forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from the results discussed in these forward-looking statements because such statements are inherently subject to significant assumptions, risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict and are generally beyond Sterlinga�s control. These include but are not limited to: Sterlinga�s ability to maintain adequate liquidity and its viability as a going concern; the possibility of continued adverse economic developments that may, among other things, increase default and delinquency risks in Sterlinga�s loan portfolios; shifts in interest rates that may result in lower interest rate margins; shifts in the demand for Sterlinga�s loan and other products; changes in accounting policies; changes in the monetary and fiscal policies of the federal government; changes in laws, regulations and the competitive environment; and Sterlinga�s ability to comply with regulatory actions and agreements. Other factors that could cause actual conditions, events or results to differ significantly from those described in the forward-looking statements may be found under the headings aRisk Factorsa and aManagementa�s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operationsa in Sterlinga�s Annual Report on Form 10-K, as updated periodically in Sterlinga�s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Unless legally required, Sterling disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements.