Commerce National Bank in Newport Beach will be renamed Argent Bank after its pending acquisition by Sterling Financial Corp. is complete in the fourth quarter.
The new name is part of Spokane, Wash.-based Sterling Financial’s rebranding effort to consolidate all of its California-based businesses.
Sterling Financial—which goes by Sterling Bank in Washington—operates in California as Sonoma Bank, which it acquired in 2007, and as Borrego Springs Bank, which was folded into the Sterling Financial umbrella in a deal notched late last year.
Sterling Financial had about $9.94 billion in overall assets as of the end of June.
Commerce National agreed to be acquired by Sterling Financial in May for about $43 million. It had about $235.6 million in assets as of the end of June.
Sterling Financial’s Southern California market president, Gil Dalmau, will be based in Encino in the San Fernando Valley, according to Dave DePillo, chief lending officer and vice chairman of Argent Bank.
“A significant amount of current leadership will continue to be based in Orange County,” he said.
