Kenneth Cosgrove used to be the president of a bank.
But when his Orange National Bank was acquired by Citizen’s Business Bank, he left under a non-compete agreement.
Cosgrove then couldn’t run a bank, so he did the next best thing. After taking a few months off to relax, Cosgrove started a one-man bank consulting practice to keep him in touch with the industry he had been a part of for three decades.
“That led to my exposure to a group of people looking to form a new bank,” Cosgrove said.
And now Cosgrove again is president of a bank: Anaheim-based Premier Commercial Bank, in formation.
The bank is looking to work with companies with revenue of $2 million to $30 million, and Disneyland’s expansion with California Adventure presents an opportunity to capitalize on tourism-related businesses, Cosgrove said.
“That will be a significant piece of our operations,” he said. Thus, the bank’s Anaheim address.
Premier has filed its application with regulators, and after it receives approval, Cosgrove will head out into the community to raise the money to capitalize the bank. He said he will be looking to raise $6 million to $8 million.
“There have been a number of people who were receptive to stepping forward, but the proof is when the checks clear,” Cosgrove said.
Orange County has had several banks start up in the past three years as regional and national banks have been on acquisition romps in an effort to gain market share. While most banks talk in press releases about how well their mergers have gone, banks always lose customers during consolidation. That is where the new small banks come in.
“The number of start-ups on the scene is fairly significant. It is a byproduct of the merger and acquisition activity that took place. There is a lot of growth being realized by those banks,” Cosgrove said.
That is the market Cosgrove and his backers are looking to jump into.
“The overall health of the banking community is quite good. A lot of lessons were learned in the recession and difficult times of the late ’80s and early ’90s,those remain pretty fresh,” Cosgrove said. n
