Larry Sallinger has left his management position with the Orange office of Citizen’s Business Bank to form a rival bank, Orange Community Bank. Sallinger says the new bank is in the process of raising capital and he expects to have it up and running by August.
Sallinger, a 34-year veteran of the OC banking scene, was senior vice president and branch manager of Orange National Bank for five years. He remained with the bank after it was acquired in October by Ontario (Inland Empire)-based Citizen’s Business Bank. But last month Sallinger left the renamed bank, saying he saw a need for a new, locally owned community bank in Orange.
“The community is absolutely ripe for a new bank in Orange,” Sallinger said.
He said the new bank will have to contend with many other financial institutions that are located within Orange’s city limits. But obviously, he said, the strongest community bank competition will be from Citizen’s, Orange National’s successor.
“Orange National pretty well had the city sewn up as far as community banks,” Sallinger said.
Linn Wiley, president and CEO of Citizen’s Business Bank, declined to comment on Sallinger’s departure. But he downplayed the degree to which Sallinger’s bank would compete with his.
Citizen’s, Wiley said, wants to “concentrate on business and professional services. But there will be occasions where we will be soliciting the same customers.”
Citizen’s is also a bigger institution than what Sallinger envisions Orange Community will be.
Overall, Citizen’s holding company, CVB Financial Corp., had total assets of $1.63 billion as of last Sept. 30. As of last June 30, prior to its acquisition by Citizen’s, Orange National had total assets of $285.6 million.
By contrast, Sallinger estimated that Orange Community will have $35 million in assets the first year, $61 million the second year and $80 million by the third year.
The new bank has 25 founders, including Gary Findley, the bank’s attorney and management counsel; he is also the editor of The Findley Reports, a respected banking newsletter, and has been involved in the formation of more than 65 banks.
“The organizing group is one of the stronger ones we’ve been involved in. These are real strong business people in the Orange area. They have life and business experience. These are the types of people we like for our boards,” Findley said.
The group gathered in October to agree on the venture. In November, they established the bank’s timeline and capitalization needs. In December, they hired an attorney and started working on the applications. On Jan. 24 they sent in applications to the California Department of Financial Institutions and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and also signed a lease for 6,000 square feet of space in an office building at 1045 W. Katella Avenue in Orange.
Findley said the bank is looking to raise about $7 million in initial capitalization, and might raise up to $10 million. Findley said he expects the bank to be profitable in nine to 12 months and to recapture all start-up costs within 15 months, even though he said banks typically do not reach profitability for two years.
“We have a good nucleus of customers. We think it’s going to be well received,” Sallinger said.
The bank is looking to offer old-fashioned community bank customer service, but in keeping up with the times, it will also have an online banking service. It is also installing an imaging system that scans and stores canceled checks, signature cards and other bank documents. The technology comes from Jadtec, a digital imaging company in Orange. Jadtec’s chairman and CEO, John Dieball, is one of the bank’s founding directors and its chairman.
The other directors, besides Dieball and Sallinger, are: Michael Birney, president and CEO of Techno Coatings Corporation, Anaheim; Oscar Gonzalez, owner, Northgate Gonzalez Supermarkets, Santa Ana; Timothy Miller, president and CEO, T. Miller Construction Co., Huntington Beach; Warren Parchan, president and CEO, DLS Builders, Orange; Gary Remland, president, Remland Insurance Services Inc., Orange; Janice Swift Bjorklund, partner, Swift & Swift, CPAs, Orange; and David Valentine, president, Valentine Realty Company Inc., Orange. n
