WA: when is a bank not a financial institution?

From the Olympian:

‘Bank’ robbery ruling voided - Proof of ‘financial institution’ term was questioned

The state Court of Appeals has reversed a Thurston County Superior Court judge’s ruling that allowed a convicted bank robber to trade a first-degree robbery conviction for a second-degree robbery conviction and avoid a potentially stiffer prison sentence. Thurston County Superior Court Judge Paula Casey ruled at the conclusion of a December 2005 bank-­robbery trial that prosecutors failed to prove that Heritage Bank in Tumwater is a “financial institution,” allowing Scott Liden to avoid a first-­degree robbery conviction...

Liden’s attorney had argued that prosecutors had to present direct proof that a bank is a financial institution to produce a first-degree bank-­robbery conviction. The appeals court’s opinion, published Tuesday, says that argument “would produce an absurd interpretation of these ‘financial institution’ statutes...” “We interpret the Legislature’s statutes to avoid absurd results,” reads the appeals court’s April 17 opinion...

(this is an update of sorts to a previous post)