“More of the same,” David White regional president of Comerica Bank-California, said jokingly, when asked what the effect his bank’s $1.3 billion acquisition of Imperial Bank will have on Orange County businesses.
Both banks are focused on commercial banking, have middle-market clients in the technology and entertainment industries and have branches concentrated in the Bay Area and Southern California.
But adding Imperial’s $7.4 billion in assets and more than 30 offices doubles Comerica’s California operations and positions the bank in the second tier behind California banking leaders Bank of America Corp., Wells Fargo and Co. and Union Bank of California.
“We will be a more formidable competitor now,” White said. In Orange County, Comerica will be the fourth-largest bank in terms of deposits, but its hold on the commercial banking market here has been rapidly growing. Comerica has doubled its loan portfolio in the past five years, according to White, while Imperial also has grown.
“As a result of our clients’ good fortune, we have grown,” White said.
With Imperial’s operations, Comerica now has the infrastructure and volume of business to keep corporate banking transactions in Southern California.
“The capabilities are right here. Now they don’t have to take the deals to San Jose (Comerica’s California headquarters) or Detroit (Comerica’s national headquarters),” White said.
With the merger, Comerica also picks up a few nuggets to give to its own customers. Previously, Comerica’s did not have image statement technology for its California customers.
“We have it in Detroit. Our customers were going to get it, but now they are getting it quicker,” White said. Meanwhile, Imperial’s customers benefit from having a bank with $50 billion in assets instead of $7.4 billion.
“(Now) we have more infrastructure in place in Northern and Southern California and can make the decisions closer to the customers. The support functions are more centralized,” White said.
Merging the two operations is no easy task, but White said the banks are handling it well. South Coast Metro was a regional headquarters for both banks and the Comerica HQ will absorb the branch operations Imperial had in its 695 Towne Center Drive building. Imperial’s corporate finance operation in that building, run by Caroline Harkins, will move to Imperial’s loan production office in north Anaheim.
“We had an option to combine middle marketing lending groups. The county has enough business to support both groups and both these groups have been successful. It’s working; why screw it up?” White said. Comerica’s corporate banking operations will be run by Rick Saulsbury, but White brought in Mark Dumas, a longtime Imperial executive, to oversee both the offices.
“He is going to be Mr. Orange County,” White said.
The acquisition was announced Nov. 1 and closed Jan. 31. White said the target date for completion of the consolidation, including sign changes, personnel moves and systems integration is Sept. 1.
“It’s a very time-consuming process, with different locations, systems and procedures. We are close to being done with the organizational structure and are moving fast on the locations. We have people working day and night on this,” White said.
Comerica has made 60 acquisitions in its 152-year history and six of them have been in California. Comerica is a relative newcomer to the Golden State, entering the market in 1991 with the acquisition of Plaza Bank. After a few more acquisitions and some internal growth, the bank’s assets reached almost $5 billion in California. Imperial was started in 1963 by George L. Graziadio and George M. Eltinge, with an original investment of $1.25 million. n
