CalWest, Bank Of OC Merging Operations
The Bank of Orange County will be merging with its sister bank CalWest Bank, to create a $241 million asset, 100 employee, five-branch bank.
Both banks are owned by the San Francisco-based holding company, California Community Bancshares, which is combining the operations of the two subsidiaries. The resulting bank will keep the Bank of Orange County name, said Bank of Orange County Chief Executive Harvey Ferguson.
“Bank of Orange County has a good reputation,” he said.
Bank of Orange County had three branches in OC with assets of $157 million, with CalWest providing another two branches and $84 million in assets. CalWest itself is the outgrowth of a merger last year between National Business Bank and Downey National Bank.
California Community Bancshares wants to merge the two banks to provide better customer service through more branches and a larger ATM network. The CalWest branches can also take advantage of the Bank of Orange County’s SBA preferred lender status and its real estate department, of which CalWest has neither. The bank also will be going online this year and adding cash management to its portfolio of products.
It will be opening another office in Santa Fe Springs this year, and another two in 2001, Ferguson said. He is looking in the Tustin and Santa Ana areas for the new locations. n
