First Vietnamese American Bank, which opened in the Little Saigon section of Westminster last year, has made some changes in its executive ranks.
The shifts, which have been ongoing for months, are aimed at strengthening the startup bank’s upper ranks.
First Vietnamese was the first bank to open targeting the large Vietnamese population in Little Saigon in Westminster, Garden Grove and neighboring cities.
The biggest change has come at the top: longtime banker Walter Hannen has been named chief executive, pending Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. approval, which is expected shortly.
Hannen is replacing Hieu T. Nguyen, the public face of First Vietnamese who came to the U.S. as a child from Vietnam. As a boy, Nguyen fled his North Vietnam home in 1953 via a U.S. military transport for South Vietnam.
Nguyen becomes co-chairman and director of marketing.
Chan Kieu, a Fountain Valley anesthesiologist, is the other co-chairman.
“The Vietnamese community in Orange County is large and its demographics are very diverse in terms of businesses, age groups and financial needs,” Nguyen said in a prior interview. “It needs more banks that really understand its own culture and habits of doing business.”
Hannen has more than 34 years in banking. He served as chief executive of Bank of Yorba Linda from 1984 to 1987. He started his career with Wachovia Corp. in 1970.
He has become a kind of jack-of-all-trades at First Vietnamese.
Last November, Hannen became chief loan officer. Six months ago, he added chief operating officer to his list of titles.
First Vietnamese has seen other changes.
At a recent board meeting, First Vietnamese’s credit lending officer job was split into two: loan marketing and production.
Instead of a chief lending officer, the bank named a marketing head responsible for lending outreach, or “client services” for the tight-knit Vietnamese community.
A second official was charged with overseeing internal controls and speeding up the loan process.
“The goal is to strengthen us,” Hannen said.
Others have left First Vietnamese in the past year. But Hannen said he isn’t worried by the changes since they were expected.
“It’s like any other business,” he said. “Our bank is going to use the skill sets of individuals for the best benefit of the bank. We constantly evaluate those skills, and challenge our people to become better bankers.”
John Podlesni, the former chief financial officer, is set to become chief executive of another bank in San Diego County. He left this summer.
Leo Katchmar, who came from Bank of Whittier a little more than a year ago to work as a controller with First Vietnamese, replaced Podlesni.
Another change occurred on the bank’s board. Director Masao Tsuzura, a native of Japan, left for a medical job in his home country this summer.
Startup banks typically take about three years to reach profitability.
First Vietnamese had assets of $27.8 million as of March 31, up from $15.9 million in June 2005. Deposits have grown from $1 million to $20.34 million during the period.
Losses for the 12 months ended March 31 were $5 million.
Cross-town rival Saigon National Bank, just a few blocks away from First Vietnamese in the Brookhurst Town Center, has seen assets hold steady since it opened at the end of 2005. Its assets were $18 million as of June 30.
Deposits at Saigon National grew from $2 million at Dec. 31 to nearly $6 million by June 30. Losses for the nine months through June 30 were $1.35 million.
_________________________________________________________
Lake Forest Lender Part of Merrill Buy
Merrill Lynch & Co. said last week it’s buying National City Corp.’s subprime mortgage unit for $1.3 billion, including online lender NationPoint of Lake Forest.
National City’s First Franklin mortgage unit, which includes NationPoint, did nearly $30 billion in loans last year.
The unit’s various businesses,San Jose-based First Franklin, NationPoint and Pittsburgh-based National City Home Loan Services Inc.,are expected to continue operating as they have under Merrill Lynch.
The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter. Cleveland-based National City said in July it was considering a sale of NationPoint and First Franklin.
NationPoint makes several types of home loans, including ones with interest-only monthly payments or no down payment. All of its loans are made through NationPoint’s Web site.
The operation employs roughly 380 people in Lake Forest. NationPoint is the ninth largest online mortgage lender in the U.S.
NationPoint reported pretax earnings of $10.7 million and $1.7 billion in loans in 2005.
,Pat Maio
