The largest commercial banks based in Orange County notched a 4% gain in their collective assets during a 12-month stretch through June, according to this week’s Business Journal list.
Half of the 26 banks on the list posted asset growth, with the other half reporting decreases. This year’s collective uptick follows a 26% increase a year earlier.
The list ranks local banks by asset size and also offers details regarding net income, core capital ratios and the number of OC employees.
Banks continued hiring in Orange County, though at a slower pace, collectively boosting work force by 28% with 455 additional employees. The total number of workers at OC’s banks was 2,079 as of October. This year’s increase in headcount compares with a 42% growth last year, when banks brought on 470 workers.
Sixteen of the listed banks made new hires. Nine banks had smaller work forces on the latest list, and one entry was based on a Business Journal estimate.
Rankings for the top three banks stayed the same.
No. 1 Opus Bank in Irvine had a 13% growth in total assets, up to $2.47 billion at the end of June.
“We have a lot of cash on the balance sheet, and we shifted a lot of that into loans,” Chief Executive Stephen Gordon said. “That growth has been fueled predominantly by … multifamily and commercial business lending.”
Opus Bank was profitable during the first six months of this year, with net income of $9.2 million, a swing from a year-earlier loss of $20.5 million. It employs 547 individuals here, more than double last year’s total.
Recent acquisitions included Opus’ takeover of Fullerton-based RMG Capital Corp. Gordon said the RMG acquisition brought in more than 100 new employees.
Costa Mesa-based Pacific Mercantile Bank kept its No. 2 spot with $1.07 billion in assets as of June, a 9% growth from a year ago. Pacific Mercantile more than doubled its profit for the first half of the year, to $7.7 million.
The company has seen changes in its board in the past year. It named Ed Carpenter as chairman in May, following the death of former Chairman George Wells.
Carpenter is chief executive of Irvine-based advisory firm Carpenter & Co. and a managing partner of the Carpenter Com-munity BancFund, which counts Pacific Mercantile among its portfolio of five California banks.
Other new Pacific Mercantile directors include John Clark, partner at Costa Mesa-based private equity firm Westar Capital LLC, and Michael Hoopis, chief executive of Anaheim-based Targus Group Inter-national Inc.
Pacific Mercantile has hired more than 100 individuals during the past year and now counts about 364 workers across its four OC locations.
No. 3 Pacific Premier Bank closely trails Pacific Mercantile in assets with $1.06 billion, a reflection of a 12% growth during the past year through June. It has earned $8.9 million for the first half of this year, a more than 50% gain compared with a year earlier.
Costa Mesa-based Pacific Premier is set to move its headquarters to a bigger location in Irvine later this month. It recently announced a deal to buy Dallas-based First Associa-tions Bank, which serves homeowners’ associations and related management companies.
The deal is expected to boost Pacific Premier’s assets by about $356.2 million.
Other banks that saw asset growths included No. 22 Capital Bank, which had a 21% asset growth to $128.2 million.
Net income for the San Juan Capistrano-based bank fell to $265,000, about half of the profit for the same period last year.
Capital Bank has one branch in Orange County. It has hired seven additional workers during the year and counted 25 employees here in October.
Assets Drop
The biggest decrease in assets was marked by Orange-based First Security Business Bank. It had $138.8 million in assets at the end of the second quarter, or less than a third of the bank’s total assets a year earlier when it had about $490.4 million.
The decline pushed the bank down to No. 21 on this year’s list from last year’s No. 6. The bank saw a first-half profit of $1.6 million, down 37% from a year earlier. It now has eight employees, down from 14 last October. First Security didn’t respond to requests for comment.
California First National Bank in Irvine slipped two spots to No. 11 this year with $375.1 million in total assets as of June.
That was a near-2% drop from a year earlier.
California First’s profit fell 39% to $2 million. Its OC work force shrank by 19% to 101 employees.
Irvine-based First Foundation Bank—ranked at No. 4—was the list’s sole newcomer after a change in its charter status. First Foundation became a state-chartered bank in June after having operated as a national thrift for more than 20 years.
Its profit for the first half of this year totaled $2.7 million, down 57% from a year earlier.
But the bank had almost $720 million in assets at mid-year, or 44% more than a year earlier.
“Our growth really is coming from all facets of our business,” Chief Executive Scott Kavanaugh said. “Our acquisition of Desert Commercial Bank brought in some assets, but that doesn’t show up in this June number; it shows up as of Aug. 15.”
First Foundation’s business segments also include consulting, trust and wealth-planning services. Those additional businesses bring the bank’s assets under management to $2.2 billion, Kavanaugh said.
The bank had 97 OC employees as of last month, an increase of 15.
Capital Reserve
This week’s list shows that OC banks collectively had a stronger capital reserve against their assets, measured by the core capital ratio.
A bank is required by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to maintain a level of capital based on an analysis of risks.
Core capital ratios for the 26 banks on the list ranged from 6.3% to 22.4%, with an average of 13.1%. The average was 12.8% last year and 11% the year before.
Download the 2012 LARGEST OC-BASED COMMERCIAL BANKS list (pdf)
