Citizens Business Bank meets its new customers
| Monday, Oct 19 2009 05:22 PM
Last Updated Monday, Oct 19 2009 08:06 PM
For questions about the failure of San Joaquin Bank
* Account holders may consult an FDIC Web site set up specifically to answer consumer questions. The address is www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/sanjoaquin.html .
* All shares of San Joaquin Bank were owned by its holding company, San Joaquin Bancorp, which is not included in the closing of the bank or the resulting receivership. Shareholders may contact San Joaquin Bancorp at (661) 281-0360.
Images
Henry A. Barrios / The Californian Diz Francisco walks to the building on 17th Street in downtown Bakersfield that housed San Joaquin Bank and has reopened as Citizens Business Bank. He went there to cash a check Monday afternoon.
Casey Christie / The Californian Workers with Encore Image put up the new Citizens Business Bank sign over the old, San Joaquin Bank sign, Saturday, on 17th and L Streets.
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Citizens Business Bank officials made the rounds at former branches of San Joaquin Bank Monday seeking to reassure customers that there is nothing to fear as it takes over the failed Bakersfield institution.
Although San Joaquin officials say they complied with an agreement with regulators to raise $27 million in capital, the state Department of Financial Institutions on Friday informed the bank it was pulling San Joaquin’s charter, and that Citizens Business Bank, based in Ontario, would acquire its deposits.
The Citizens and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s logos were up on San Joaquin’s Web site the same day, and new signs were up at physical branches first thing Saturday morning.
A few found that haste unnerving, and wondered if it was a sign that San Joaquin’s demise was a foregone conclusion even as its leaders worked to raise money.
Outside San Joaquin’s former headquarters Monday, Citizens president and chief executive Christopher Myers said Citizens ordered the signs ahead of time, just in case.
“We were informed in the middle of last week that we were the winning bidder,” he said. “We knew it was a possibility they might raise the money and we wouldn’t need them, but we figured the odds were pretty low, since they’d been working on it for a while without success.
“Also we didn’t want to risk looking like we didn’t have our act together if we got it. We wanted to be ready.”
Customers entering the downtown branch Monday said they were surprised to see the signage up so soon, but a few found it comforting.
The bank had been on an FDIC watch list since December, and after months of rumors about San Joaquin’s capital and liquidity, 20-year customer Sherman Lee, who owns a local restaurant, said he was relieved.
“People from both Citizens and the FDIC were in there, and they assured me they will do a great job and I’m safe,” he said after doing business at the downtown branch Monday morning. “I feel a lot better. I don’t have to worry anymore.”
Mike Walters, owner of a downtown coffeehouse, said he, too, will stay on after three years with San Joaquin.
“I was surprised how quickly it all changed, but I figured it was going to happen,” he said. “I like their service. I like all the ladies in there. They’re close to me and know my business, and they’ve always been good.”
Walters said he didn’t make a special trip on Monday to scope out the bank’s new owner. He had regular banking to do.
“I was glad, actually, because I thought it would be really busy after what happened, but it wasn’t super crowded or anything,” he said.
Pat Demond, a legal assistant who had banked at San Joaquin for a year, was a little more guarded.
Asked if she would keep her account open, she was non-committal. “I’ll see,” she said, shrugging.
“You always get a little worried, a little uneasy, when a bank fails,” she said.
It remains to be sorted out how many branches and employees will be retained, said Citizens president Myers, but he said cuts, if any, will be minimal.
“This isn’t a consolidation play,” Myers said. “It’s not like there’s a lot of duplication. We don’t have branches across the street from each other.”
Myers promised to continue San Joaquin’s tradition of support for local nonprofits and the arts.
“If anything, it will be more, because we’ve got more horsepower,” he said.
At least to some extent, Citizens has no choice. The Community Reinvestment Act requires depository institutions to help meet the credit needs of the communities in which they operate.
Former San Joaquin chief executive Bart Hill did not return telephone calls seeking comment.
The acquisition boosts Citizens’ presence in Kern County to seven branches. San Joaquin had four Bakersfield branches and one in Delano. Citizens had one in Bakersfield and one in McFarland.
Barring any downsizing, the combined institutions will have about $7 billion in assets and more than 200 employees.
Citizens’ parent company, CVB Financial Corp., trades on Nasdaq under the symbol CVBF. It closed Monday at $8.26 per share, up 61 cents, or nearly 8 percent.
