The county’s 30 largest commercial banks saw deposits rise modestly through June while the local field of savings and loans made big gains through acquisitions and internal growth.
The top tier of commercial banks had $65.6 billion in deposits as of June, up nearly 3% from a year earlier, according to this week’s Business Journal list.
The lists of banks and savings and loans are based on data from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which provides a snap shot of deposits on June 30 every year.
Commercial banking here is dominated by national players.
The top 10 banks on the list made up about 85% of the deposits. The largest five accounted for about 71%.
The 30 banks on the list combined to employ 18,707 as of June, up 4.5% from a year earlier.
Twenty-one banks saw deposits grow, while nine saw them drop.
There wasn’t much change among the top ten, as No. 1 Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America Corp. retained the county crown with $16.2 billion in local deposits, essentially flat from a year earlier. BofA’s employee count was unchanged at 6,500 people.
No. 2 San Francisco-based Wells Fargo & Co. got closer to BofA with $15.8 billion in deposits, up 6.6% from a year earlier.
Wells, which has the most branches of any bank in the county, is undergoing a nationwide campaign with a goal of doubling business in five years.
“We’re extremely focused and pushing the envelope very hard,” said Dave Ritchie, Wells’ regional head of commercial banking for Orange County and north San Diego.
Wells employs 4,600 people here, up 200 workers from a year ago.
The bank announced late last month it was planning on cutting 145 temporary employees from its local wholesale mortgage lending division as demand waned.
No. 3 New York-based Chase Bank hit $6.3 billion in deposits, up nearly 3% from a year ago. The banking arm of JPMorgan Chase & Co. employs 2,400 people here, up more than 14% from a year ago.
Since taking over Seattle-based Washington Mutual Inc. in late 2008 in a $1.9 billion deal, Chase has added more than 200 local employees as it tries to catch up to Bank of America and Wells Fargo.
The bank is focused on growing its commercial banking division.
No. 4 San Francisco-based Union Bank, a subsidiary of Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., moved up one spot on the list after growing deposits to $4.4 billion from $3.9 billion a year earlier. Union Bank’s 16.5% jump in hiring to 1,590 people was the largest employment percentage increase of any bank on the list.
The bank made some high profile management hires and promotions in the past four months as it seeks to draw more local business, increase market share across the country and forge ties with companies looking to expand in Asia.
Todd Hollander, who was hired late last year to lead Union Bank’s business banking unit here, told the Business Journal the bank wants to be among the 10 largest in the country.
No. 5 Minneapolis-based U.S. Bank slipped one spot as deposits dropped nearly 13% to $3.8 billion.
The bank employs 1,095 people, up 8.6% from a year ago.
The bank has made some sizeable acquisitions in the past few years, including the buy of Los Angeles-based California National Bank, which had $7.8 billion in assets and $6.2 billion in deposits when it was closed in October 2009 by regulators.
Temporary Boost
That purchase temporarily boosted U.S. Bank’s deposits, but the figure has gone down since then.
Some California National deposits, which included large corporate, government and other specialized industry accounts, moved to other regions of the bank’s operations, officials said.
Some customers also took their money and savings accounts to other banks as the downturn settled.
Los Angeles-based City National Bank held on to the No. 7 spot despite losing nearly $1 billion in deposits as customers searched for better yields. City National acquired La Jolla-based Imperial Capital Bank in late 2009 after it was shut down by regulators.
The Business Journal assigned Imperial’s $1.2 billion in local deposits to City National. Those figures have dropped significantly in the past year.
“That decline was the expected result of our acquisition of Imperial Capital Bank and some of their depositors leaving in search of higher yielding certificate of deposit rates once the purchase was complete,” City National officials said.
Savings and Loans
The smaller group of savings and loans operating in Orange County saw deposits grow significantly faster than commercial banks.
Deposits at the nine largest savings and loans were up 46.5% as of June from a year earlier, for a combined $3.8 billion, according to this week’s Business Journal list.
The group overall grew its local workforce by 12.8% to 659 employees.
OneWest Bank FSB—formed out of Pasadena-based IndyMac Inc., which failed in 2008—topped the list. OneWest more than doubled its local deposits to $1.5 billion. The thrift was established in early 2009 after a group of investors acquired IndyMac’s assets from the FDIC.
OneWest acquired Rancho Santa Fe-based La Jolla Bank FSB a year ago when it was seized by federal regulators. OneWest got $3.6 billion in assets and $2.8 billion in deposits in the deal.
Without OneWest, local thrifts topped $2.2 billion in deposits, up a little more than 18% from a year earlier.
No. 5 Irvine’s First Foundation Bank topped $265 million in deposits, up nearly 90% from a year earlier.
First Foundation focused on wealth management for two decades before launching the thrift in August 2007. The timing meant the thrift missed much of the financial turmoil of the recent recession.
“We didn’t have to look in the review mirror,” said First Foundation Chief Executive Scott Kavanaugh.
The bank is looking to expand its operations by as much as 11,000 square feet this year and another 11,000 next year.
First Foundation made key management hires in the last year as it expanded its loan and deposit base. It expanded to San Diego County with a branch in La Quinta and to Los Angeles County with an office in Pasadena.
Its companywide employee count has more than tripled in the past three years to 91 people. Another 15 to 20 people are expected to be hired this year, Kavanaugh said.
No. 8 Texas-based Beal Bank, which specializes in certificates of deposit and other savings products, saw its local deposits dip 28% to $14.6 million.
Download the 2011 OC’s LARGEST COMMERCIAL BANKS list (pdf)
