Press / The Sacramento Bee

Merger puts compatibility to tough test; Umpqua's purchase of Western Sierra reflects the consolidation trend in American banking.

June 18, 2006
By Jon Ortiz

...Remaking Western Sierra into Umpqua is a monumental task. For starters, Umpqua ordered 97,500 business cards for the 325 employees making the move from Western Sierra, said regional manager Kellie England, who handles the bank's business from Lincoln to Ukiah. It also converted 27 ATMs to its network and issued approximately 19,000 new debit, ATM and credit cards to former Western Sierra customers. About half of the 31 acquired branches will be painted to match Umpqua's ivory-and-teal corporate colors. All should have new exterior signs by the end of this month. The company's biggest effort, however, has been a push to reach employees. Weeks before the merger, Umpqua started training Western Sierra employees on how to address customers (by name, if possible), how to answer the phone ("Thank you for calling the world's greatest bank"), plus details about Umpqua's history and its expectations.

"It's critical to get all of that on the table," said Scott Montgomery, whose New York ad agency has worked on rebranding campaigns for major banks. "That way, people can either embrace the new culture, or they can find something else to do."

To drive the point home, Umpqua executives have crisscrossed Northern California to meet with groups of employees, key customers and investors...