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Tuesday, May 5, 2026

Irvine’s Plaza Bank Takes Over Failed Vegas Bank

Irvine’s Plaza Bank has acquired the sole branch of SouthwestUSA Bank in Las Vegas after it was closed by federal regulators.

The branch opened under the Plaza Bank name Monday in what is the Irvine bank’s first foray outside the county.

As of March 31, SouthwestUSA Bank had $214 million in assets and $186.7 million in deposits.

Plaza Bank assumed all of the deposits of the failed bank and purchased $137 million of its assets.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which closed SouthwestUSA on Friday, is keeping some of the remaining assets and plans to sell them later.

As of June 30, Plaza Bank had $193.9 million in assets, $152 million in deposits and $147.8 million in loans.

The deal increases Plaza Bank’s assets to $409 million and deposits to $323 million.

By assets, the deal stands to move Plaza Bank into the top five of locally based banks. Last year, Plaza Bank ranked No. 18 on the Business Journal’s list of OC-based commercial banks.

Plaza Bank’s majority shareholder is PB Holdings Inc., which is owned by the Carpenter Community BancFund, an Irvine-based private equity fund that has been acquiring banks in the downturn.

It is run by Edward Carpenter, a former bank consultant who helped organize community banks in the county in the early 2000s.

Last week, the fund announced it would invest in the bank holding company of California General Bank after it acquired Professional Business Bank. Both banks are based in Pasadena.

SouthwestUSA Bank is the 102nd FDIC-insured institution to fail this year.

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