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Tuesday, Mar 19, 2024
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Banking Officials eye launch of new bank in La Jolla

Officials of a new La Jolla bank have filed an application with federal banking agencies and expect to begin operation later this year.

Called Regents Bank, the lender will focus on community banking in the wake of several local banks being acquired by big out-of-town banks, said Melody Brue, a spokeswoman for the bank.

In recent years, Scripps Bank of La Jolla, Peninsula Bank of San Diego, El Cajon-based Valle de Oro Bank and San Diego’s Bank of Commerce have been acquired.

Former Scripps board Chairman William Nelson will serve on the new bank’s board of directors. He’s joined by William Roper, executive vice president of Science Applications International Corp. of San Diego; Patrick Shea, a partner with the San Diego law firm of Pillsbury Winthrop LLP and current chairman of the San Diego Convention Center Corp.; and Ronald Spogli, a founding partner of the local investment firm of Freeman, Spogli & Co. Inc. The bank’s CEO has not yet been selected, Brue said.

“Small and emerging businesses in our community are ready for a bank like Regents,” Roper said. “Big banks keep getting bigger, many regional banks are now owned out-of-the market, and that means their bankers tend to take their eyes off their customers and focus internally.”

Tom Young, who has worked in bank management at a variety of institutions, is chairman of the board, Brue said.

The proposed bank will join several other local banks that have been started in recent months. In January, organizers of Pacific Community Bank, which will be headquartered in San Marcos, filed an application with the California Department of Financial Institutions. 1st Pacific Bank of California opened for business at its first two branch offices, the headquarters on Regents Road in University Towne Centre and the other in Oceanside, in December.

Bank of the Internet USA, also based in San Diego, has a retail office on El Camino Real in Carmel Valley but is concentrating on Internet banking, said President Gary Evans. It began operations in the fall.

John Hall, a spokesman for the American Bankers Association in Washington, D.C., said there is a trend toward new local bank formation. That’s because so many local banks have been bought up in recent years, he said.

The San Diego County economy in particular is vigorous, making private investors more willing to invest in a new bank here, he added.

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