Startup CommerceWest Bank, coming off a $10.2 million public offering, has opened its first banking center in MacArthur Court in the airport area of Newport Beach.
CommerceWest is targeting business customers, said chief executive Ivo Tjan, and is adapting high-end customer-service techniques used by American Express and Nordstrom.
“We have a concierge service,” Tjan said. “When the owners or executives come in, we can book plane tickets for them, we can book a golf course, we can find them the vehicle they are looking for.”
As for banking, Tjan said, clients are able to speak with a senior banker 24 hours a day, seven days a week. And, he noted, “We turnaround in 48 hours or less with a credit decision.”
CommerceWest started its OC operation, which it calls a business center rather than a branch, Sept. 24 with 20 employees. A week after opening, the bank had $2 million in deposits.
Tjan and his management team eventually wants to take the concept of customized business banking beyond Orange County.
“We want to service the business community first in Orange County, then we are going to go after L.A., then we want to go after San Diego,” said Tjan.
Tjan, 28, has more than 10 years of experience in banking. He started working for Household Finance Corp. out of high school. He later moved to Great Western Bank, where he became a vice president.
When Washington Mutual Inc. acquired Great Western, Tjan and many of his colleagues who did not want to work for a national thrift left the company.
He moved to Home Savings of America, where he managed $400 million in loans and deposits. But Washington Mutual was on a buying binge, and it acquired Tjan’s new employer, too. He had an offer to work at City National Bank but instead went to work for Bob Keller at Eldorado Bank. A month before Eldorado announced it was being acquired by Zions Bancorporation, Tjan left and started CommerceWest.
“There are a lot of businesses out there that are underserved,manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors, services companies. It’s the underserved community that CommerceWest is going after,” Tjan said. n
