Op/ed: To protect community assets, Congress needs to level the playing field for small banks
For community banks, these new regulations are as onerous as they are expensive.
Editorial: Bank reform needed to increase small-business access to financing
They don’t need to be shut out of the financial system by rules that make it too difficult for banks to take relatively small risks on customers who have sound plans but no credit history or extremely limited access to personal capital.
PacWest to buy First California for $231M
Los Angeles-based PacWest Bancorp is buying First California Financial Group for $231 million in an all-stock deal. At $8 per share, PacWest’s price represents an 18.5 percent premium over First California’s share price at the close on Nov. 6. The deal also comes after months of tense negotiations between the rival banks. PacWest offered $7.25 Read More →
Timothy Geithner’s four simple rules for navigating global recovery
LOS ANGELES — He is surprisingly slight of build, unflappably low-key, well-dressed and, of course, there is that full head of wavy brown hair. In short, Timothy Geithner has all of the proper accoutrements for the person he is — the 75th U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, a bureaucratic mandarin and President Barack Obama’s go-to Read More →
First California hires KBW to test waters for sale
In a move that could foreshadow the sale of the company, Westlake Village-based First California Financial Group has hired an outside investment bank and a law firm to undertake a “strategic review” of the company’s business plan and options. But it is not clear whether the hiring of advisers signals a deal in the works Read More →
Community West lost $591K in Q2
Shares of Community West Bancshares soared 7.7 percent even as the Goleta-based bank reported a $591,000 second-quarter loss. The parent company of Community West Bank’s latest loss swings away from an $819,000 profit in the first quarter. Including $268,000 in dividends and accretion on preferred stock, Community West’s second-quarter net loss applicable to common stockholders Read More →
