Heritage Oaks CFO steps down
Paso Robles-based Heritage Oaks Bancorp said Aug. 19 that Chief Financial Officer Margaret Torres has submitted her resignation.
Heritage Oaks promoted Ronald Oliveira to president and chief operating officer and William Filippin to chief credit officer and executive vice president. Heritage Oaks said it is looking for a replacement for Torres, whose resignation takes effect Aug. 31.
The banking firm didn’t give further details on the reasons behind Torres’ departure. CEO Larry Ward said in a news release: “It has been my great pleasure to work side-by-side with Margaret for the last 11 years. She has been a wonderful asset to the bank and we will all miss her.”
The firm reported a second-quarter loss of $5.8 million on Aug. 4, compared to a $507,000 loss in the second quarter of last year. It blamed its most recent loss on a $16.1 million provision for loan losses, up from $1 million in the first quarter. The loan loss provision was recorded along with $12.5 million in quarterly net charge-offs, debts the bank no longer thinks it can collect.
The banking firm said in its second-quarter earnings release that it continues to work through its problem loans. Heritage Oaks “took an aggressive position with respect to reducing the level of non-performing assets,” Ward said.
Pointing to balance sheet improvements such as a 28.4 percent drop in non-accruing loans and a 19.5 percent drop in total non-performing assets, Ward said “these trends are all indicative of the considerable effort that the bank’s management has made to systematically address the problem loans in its portfolio.”
Oliveira, 54, the new president, has been working as Heritage Oaks’ executive vice president, chief credit officer and COO since joining the company in July 2009. Heritage Oaks said he will receive no additional compensation as part of the promotion.
Oliveira previously worked at Rabobank as senior vice president. Prior to that, he was chairman at Equipoint Financial Services, a $2 billion real estate banking firm.
Filippin, 46, the new credit officer, was previously the bank’s senior vice president and commercial lending manager. As part of his promotion, he received an increase in his base salary to $170,000.
Before joining Heritage Oaks in April 2009, he was the chief credit officer for San Luis Obispo-based American Perspective Bank. He worked at Santa Lucia Bank in San Luis Obispo County for 14 years in various capacities, including senior vice president and credit administrator.
Ward will continue to serve as CEO of the bank and as president and CEO of the holding company.
