Coastal Financial in Everett, Wash., is cutting costs at the top.
The company disclosed in a regulatory filing that Brian Hamilton, president of Coastal and CCBX, its fintech and banking-as-a-service division, stepped down, and CEO Eric Sprink volunteered to cut his salary by 43%.
Coastal said the moves are part of a broader profit improvement plan aimed at reducing operating costs and aligning executive compensation with its current cost structure.
The filing said that Hamilton and Coastal agreed to the change after the technology build-outs and infrastructure initiatives he was hired to lead had progressed far enough that they no longer required his day-to-day oversight.
Hamilton, who will resign from all positions at the company and its subsidiaries, will remain on the board. He will provide consulting services through May 1, receiving $35,000 monthly. The filing did not name a successor to lead CCBX.
Sprink volunteered to reduce his base salary from $874,000 to $500,000 in a move the board approved on Oct. 28. The filing did not say if Sprink’s incentive compensation or equity awards would change.
Separately, Coastal said it had identified $20 million of potential annual noninterest expense cuts that could be implemented over the next four to six quarters. Levers include vendor and contractor reviews, cutting duplication, replacing legacy systems, using AI to improve productivity, and requiring each partner program to meet risk-adjusted return standards.
Coastal returned to profitability during the third quarter, earning $13.8 million after losing $42.1 million a quarter earlier.