Columbia Banking System Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2008 Conference Call

Columbia Banking System (Nasdaq: COLB) management will discuss the company's fourth quarter and full- year 2008 results on a conference call scheduled for Thursday, January 29, 2009 at 1:00 p.m. PST. Interested parties may listen to this discussion by calling 1-888-318-7969; Conference ID code #80748714. A conference call replay will be available from approximately 4:00 p.m. PST on January 29th through midnight PDT on Thursday, February 5, 2009. The conference call replay can be accessed by dialing 1-800-642-1687 and entering Conference ID code 80748714.

About Columbia

Headquartered in Tacoma, Washington, Columbia Banking System, Inc. is the holding company of Columbia Bank, a Washington state-chartered full-service commercial bank. With the 2007 acquisitions of Mountain Bank Holding Company and Town Center Bancorp and the 2008 internal merger of its subsidiary, Bank of Astoria, into Columbia Bank, Columbia Banking System has 53 banking offices in Pierce, King, Cowlitz, Kitsap, Thurston and Whatcom counties in Washington State, and Clackamas, Clatsop, Tillamook and Multnomah counties in Oregon. Included in Columbia Bank are former branches of Mt. Rainier National Bank, doing business as Mt. Rainier Bank, with 5 branches in King and Pierce counties. Columbia Bank does business under the Bank of Astoria name at the Bank of Astoria's former branches located in Astoria, Warrenton, Seaside and Cannon Beach in Clatsop County and in Manzanita in Tillamook County. More information about Columbia can be found on its website at http://www.columbiabank.com.

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