Fast growth continues for Banc of California Inc.
It’s the fourth year in a row that the Irvine-based bank has landed on the Business Journal’s annual list of the fastest-growing public companies here and the second time it’s made the list at No. 1 in the midsize category.
The rankings are based on two-year percentage revenue growths of publicly traded companies headquartered in Orange County.
Banc of California—which trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol BANC—had a 176% revenue increase, hitting $409 million for the 12 months through June versus $148 million in the same period through June 2013.
Previous two-year revenue gains were 539% through June 2014, 240% through mid-2013, and 99% through mid-2012.
Banks’ revenues are typically made up of net interest income—the money they receive in interest on loans minus the interest they pay out to interest-bearing deposit accounts—and noninterest income, which includes gains on the sale of loans and various fees.
Banc of California Chief Executive Steven Sugarman said in an email that the bank’s growth in recent years has been driven by its focus “on serving California’s private businesses, entrepreneurs, and homeowners by concentrating its lending and deposit gathering right here in Southern California.”
The bank has originated more than $10 billion in loans and grew deposits to over $5 billion in the past two years.
“We believe our growth is due to our deep roots and relationships throughout the Southern California community where depositors know that the money they deposit with Banc of California is safe and will be lent back into the communities in which they live,” he said.
Assets
Banc of California is the largest bank based in Orange County based on assets. Its third-quarter results reported last week indicates it had about $7.3 billion in assets as of Sept. 30.
That’s up 60% from a year earlier and compares with less than $1 billion in assets about five years ago, when institutional investors led by Sugarman’s COR Capital LLC recapitalized the bank with $60 million.
It was then known as First PacTrust Bancorp Inc. and had its headquarters in Chula Vista. It moved to Irvine in March 2012, a move Sugarman said “has been key to attracting highly talented banking professionals capable of fueling our growth.”
2012, ’13 Buys
The bank wrapped up 2012 with a couple of acquisitions in the books: Manhattan Beach-based Beach Business Bank and Cerritos-based Gateway Business Bank.
It bought Private Bank of California in mid-2013, a few months before it rebranded itself and all of its units to Banc of California and combined two charters into one.
Organic growth and acquisitions helped it support the size growth.
Also helping boost the bank’s reach and expanding its “ability to serve all of California’s diverse communities” was the acquisition of the California branch network of Popular Community Bank, the U.S. arm of San Juan, Puerto Rico-based Popular Inc.
There had been talk of Banc of California moving its headquarters from Irvine to a building it owned in Costa Mesa. This year it sold the building next to South Coast Plaza to apparel company Vans Inc. for about $52 million.
Banc of California recently announced that it is buying an office building in Santa Ana to be used as a corporate headquarters. The transaction is expected to close this month, and the bank “intends to occupy the building … by transitioning personnel currently located in leased office locations across Orange County to the new location during 2016,” according to a statement.
Sugarman said the bank will need to continue to focus its efforts “on funding the engines of economic growth throughout California,” including by expanding relationships with the state’s nonprofit community.
Banc of California’s philanthropic work and community development efforts include partnerships with Habitat for Humanity of Orange County, the University of Southern California, Junior Achievement of Southern California, and Jewish Vocational Services.
