Washington Banking Named to KBW Honor Roll; Recognized for Superior Ten-Year Track...

Washington Banking Named to KBW Honor Roll; Recognized for Superior Ten-Year
Track Record

OAK HARBOR, Wash., April 11, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Washington Banking Company
(Nasdaq:WBCO), the holding company for Whidbey Island Bank, today announced that
Keefe, Bruyette & Woods (KBW) has selected Washington Banking Company as one of
only 40 institutions to qualify for inclusion in the 2010 Bank Honor Roll. KBW
screened almost 400 companies and found only forty U.S. banking institutions
that met the criteria for the 2010 Honor Roll. Banks were recognized for
successfully navigating the financial crisis and generating a superior ten-year
track record.

"To be recognized on KBW's Bank Honor Roll for achieving superior performance
over a ten-year period is extremely satisfying," said Jack Wagner, President and
Chief Executive Officer.

KBW Honor Roll winners are publicly traded banking companies with at least $500
million in total assets that met the following three conditions:

-- No annual loss reported in net income per share before extraordinary
items over the past 10 years.
-- 2010 annual reported net income per-share before extraordinary items
must have been equal to or greater than peak net income per-share over
the past 10 years.
-- Consecutive increases in net income per-share before extraordinary items
since 2009.

"Banks that made the Honor Roll successfully navigated a variety of different
and sometimes difficult operating environments which have included everything
from deteriorating credit quality to inverted yield curves and rising
unemployment," said John Duffy, KBW Chairman and CEO.

According to KBW, in terms of stock price performance, Bank Honor Roll companies
significantly outperformed both the banking industry and the overall stock
market during the five-year period between 2005 and 2010. The Honor Roll banks
also meaningfully outperformed the S&P 500 (SPX) return of 0.1% over the
equivalent time period.

ABOUT KEEFE, BRUYETTE & WOODS, INC. (KBW)

KBW operates in the U.S., Europe and Asia through its broker dealer
subsidiaries, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc., Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Limited and
Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Asia Limited. It also offers asset management services
through KBW Asset Management, Inc. Founded in 1962, the firm is widely
recognized as a leading authority in the banking, insurance, brokerage, asset
management, mortgage banking, real estate and specialty finance sectors. The
firm has established industry-leading positions in the areas of research,
corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions as well as sales and trading in
equities of financial services companies.

ABOUT WASHINGTON BANKING COMPANY

Washington Banking Company is a bank holding company based in Oak Harbor,
Washington, that operates Whidbey Island Bank, a state-chartered full-service
commercial bank. Founded in 1961, Whidbey Island Bank provides various deposit,
loan and investment services to meet customers' financial needs. With its two
FDIC-assisted acquisitions in 2010, Whidbey Island Bank currently operates 30
full-service branches located in six counties in Northwestern Washington. In
June 2009, Washington Banking was added to the Russell 2000 Index, a subset of
the Russell 3000 Index. Both indices are widely used by professional money
managers as benchmarks for investment strategies. Washington Banking was the
only company in the Pacific Northwest that ranked in the top 100 best performing
community banks between $500 million and $5 billion in assets by SNL Financial
in 2010, and joined the Keefe, Bruyette &Woods 2010 Bank Honor Roll, based on
its superior 10-year track record.

www.wibank.com

CONTACT: Jack Wagner - President & CEO
Rick Shields - EVP & Chief Financial Officer
360.679.3121