PCBC's top legal exec to retire
Fred Clough, executive vice president and general counsel at Pacific Capital Bancorp, the struggling parent of Santa Barbara Bank & Trust, will leave the company at the end of the month.
Clough’s retirement will become effective a few weeks after the departure of Chief Financial Officer Stephen Masterson, who announced in December that he will leave March 12. Former Pacific Capital CFO Donald Lafler stepped in to replace Masterson in January.
On Feb. 1, Pacific Capital, which has been under pressure from regulators to boost its capital ratios, announced a $20 million loss in the fourth quarter. Though the loss was small compared to $400 million in losses the previous two quarters, the bank didn’t make any progress in meeting capital requirements it agreed to with regulators.
Weeks earlier, Pacific Capital finished the sale of one of its largest profit generators, a controversial tax-refund-anticipation loan program, for $10 million, a sum analysts called too low to help solve the bank’s capital problems.
Clough came to Pacific Capital in 2001 from his managing partner position at Santa Barbara law firm Reicker, Clough, Pfau, Pyle, McRoy & Herman. Before that, he had been a city attorney for Santa Barbara and had served in the U.S. Army after receiving an undergraduate degree from Stanford University and a law degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law in 1968.
Pacific Capital said Clough will continue to work with the bank as a consultant.
“Fred is a good friend to us all, and while we will miss him on a day-to-day basis, we are very pleased that he has agreed to continue to work with us as a consultant,” Chief Executive Officer George Leis said in a release. “On those days when he’s not behind a desk, we wish him nothing but a smooth ride, as he finds more time to pursue his long-time passion for cycling.”
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