Community West Bank
Facebook photo The banking industry saw a year like no other. It started on a downright frightening note in March with the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, which had about $209 billion in assets and $175 billion in total deposits. The bank fell within a few days, precipitated by a good, old-fashioned bank run, sparking concerns about a domino effect that never came. In an unprecedented move, the federal government made depositors whole well past the $250,000 insurance limit. The collapse had short term impacts, such as a delayed payroll for Hanford business Access Speech Therapy. It also brought local bank stock prices down, but they have recovered. Fresno First Bank had the odd misfortune — if you want to look at it that way — of launching a name change to FFB Bank within a few days of the Silicon Valley Bank failure. The past year was marked by high-profile bank mergers. Bank of the West became BMO in May after a $16.3 billion deal. Union Bank became US Bank, also in May, after an $8 billion merger. On the local front, the vaunted Central Valley Community Bank announced in October the signing of an all-stock merger agreement with Community West Bank near Santa Barbara. Valued at nearly $100 million, the merger will mean that Central Valley Community Bank will become Community West Bank in the New Year. Some local financial institutions saw major leadership changes this y ear. After 22 years with Susan Ryan as CEO of Noble Credit Union, Angelino “Gino” Cayanan was announced for the role in April. Earlier this month, Premier Valley Bank announced that current President and CEO Lo B. Nestman would be a taking a promotion with parent company Heartland Financial
USA. David Triplitt, Premier Valley Bank’s head of commercial, has been named the bank’s new president and CEO. Cen Cal Business Finance Group in Fresno is on a rocket trajectory, completing not one but two acquisitions this year — Bakersfield-based Mid State Development Corp. with $71 million in loans and Santa Maria-based Coastal Business Finance with $150 million in loans. Bank branches continued a pattern of closing, with a Bank of America office in Reedley slated for closure in August 2024. Wells Fargo, the Central Valley’s biggest bank by market share, closed a branch at Fig Garden Village in Fresno in March. Data breach problems continued, this year with Tri Counties Bank, which has three local branches. It wasn’t only regular banks with real money that saw some pain this year. Cryptocurrencies, though, staged a strong recovery from their “crypto winter” in 2023.
Bitcoin fell to around $16,500 from its high of $68,000. But it was $43,000 this week. The banking industry saw a year like no other. It Business owners face countless challenges not only when first starting Bank of America announced that its 2023 Neighborhood Champion awardee For the second time in less than four months, Fresno-based