Wealth isn’t always what it seems.
Or where.
Consider La Palma, which set off an alarm as we checked the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.’s data on bank deposits in Orange County.
The little North OC city came in with $1.9 billion in total deposits—$120,204 for each of its 15,860 residents.
That compared with $82.7 billion and $26,753 per capita countywide.
A deeper look showed the City National Bank branch in La Palma accounted for $1.5 billion in deposits as of June 30, 2013, the most recent data available from the FDIC.
That’s about 80% of the money deposited in the five bank branches in town—the others are Bank of America, Chase, California Bank & Trust and BBCN.
City National’s total in La Palma stood out by other comparisons: the $1.5 billion was nearly double the bank’s next-highest branch in OC, located at Lakeshore Towers on Von Karman Avenue in Irvine. It was second countywide to a Wells Fargo branch on Birch Street in Newport Beach. Both of those branches are in the heart of corporate OC—near John Wayne Airport, with the Irvine Spectrum, Newport Center and the South Coast Metro district all within a few miles.
Indeed, aside from its top two, none of City National’s other Orange County locations cracked $75 million in deposits.
An inquiry to City National left us stumped for a moment.
“This is very strange,” wrote spokesperson Paul Stowell.
Then he found the answer: About $1.4 billion of the deposits counted 12 months ago were part of City National’s mortgage escrow business that has since relocated to its office in downtown Los Angeles, Stowell said.
He said the La Palma branch now is at about $88 million in deposits. That’s closer to the average for City National branches in OC—and still a boost of 30% excluding the mortgage escrow money. So much for the big-data discrepancy in little La Palma.
“We have solved the mystery,” Stowell said.
