Los Angeles-based City National Bank nabbed three private bankers from Comerica Bank to grow and expand its business that caters to wealthy clients here.
City National recently hired Glenn Hamburger as head of its private client services in Irvine. Hamburger, who used to be with the Costa Mesa office of Dallas-based Comerica, brought with him Julia Stannard and Troy Franzen.
The three have a long client list, including local wealthy residents, trusts and estates.
“Hopefully several of their clients will see the benefits of City National,” said Kevin Dunigan, Orange County regional manager for City National.
Experience
Hamburger has nearly 20 years of private banking and wealth management experience, most recently as group manager for Comerica’s wealth management group, where he ran the Costa Mesa, Phoenix and San Diego markets. Stannard, who has more than two decades of experience, was a private banker at Comerica and a former portfolio manager at Imperial Bank in San Francisco.
Franzen, another 20-year veteran, was a wealth adviser at Comerica. Before that, he was a financial adviser with Signature Estate & Investment Advisors in Beverly Hills and Irvine.
With the hires, City National hopes to build up its banking with wealthy clients in the county.
Hamburger, a Newport Beach native, has worked in OC his entire career, building a book of clients who made their money primarily through real estate.
He said he was impressed with City National’s reputation and intrigued by its pitch to build the private client services division.
“The bank is making a serious effort by bringing myself and my colleagues over to do that,” he said. “They’ve made significant moves to grow the Orange County market.”
City National has added 10 employees in the county this year, bringing its local workforce to 110 people in eight county branches.
Its Costa Mesa branch was acquired in April after the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. shut down La Jolla-based Imperial Capital Bank.
“That allowed us to expand our footprint in OC,” Dunigan said.
Comerica Bank spokesman Alfredo Padilla declined to touch on the departures, but said the bank continues to grow its business in the county and throughout the state.
City National has offered investment, banking and other services to the wealthy for more than 50 years. The bank really started growing the business 15 years ago when Russell Goldsmith became chief executive.
Goldsmith History
Goldsmith’s ties to the county go back to his childhood when he honed his boating skills at Newport Beach Harbor, where he currently keeps a speedboat and sailboat.
Goldsmith, whose primary residence is in Los Angeles, owns a home in Lido Village.
When he took over in 1995, assets under management were $800 million. Today the private bank manages or administers nearly $55 billion. It targets entrepreneurs, professional service providers and select nonprofits through investment management, trust, credit and banking offerings.
City National built much of its private client business in OC after Goldsmith expanded the bank beyond Los Angeles County. The wealth division now generates about 20% of the bank’s revenue, spokeswoman Debora Vrana said.
City National first entered OC 35 years ago when it opened a Lido Village office in Newport Beach Harbor to cater to the rich.
The branch had a teller window boaters could sail up to and do their banking right on the water.
It closed in 1984 when the bank decided to concentrate its resources at City National’s other Newport Beach location on MacArthur Boulevard, closer to John Wayne Airport.
