Ex-Scripps Bank Officials Eye Another Local Venture
Banking: Scripps Premier Joins Increasingly Crowded Field of Community Banks
BY MIKE ALLEN
Senior Staff Writer
Last week yet another group of investors emerged to launch a new community bank , this one in the La Jolla area.
The group includes four directors from the well-regarded Scripps Bank, which was acquired by U.S. Bancorp, and several other prominent La Jollans who want to start a bank they can call their own.
The former Scripps Bank directors are Chris McKellar and his father Jim McKellar; Martin Dickenson; and William Miller.
In addition, the group includes John Davies, a member of the UC Board of Regents; Vince Benstead, a retired CPA; Mark Grosvenor, a hotelier; and Craig Andrews, an attorney.
The group is in the process of filing the application for a national bank with regulators and is looking at opening its office in La Jolla, Benstead said.
The working title is either Scripps Premier Bank or Premier Bank, Benstead said.
Hired to be the point man for the new bank is Doug Sawyer, the former top banker in the San Diego area for Bank of America, who only left that job earlier this year.
The group intends to raise $8 million to $10 million in capital to get the bank open by the fall, Benstead said.
Vince Siciliano, CEO of 1st Pacific Bank, which opened in 2000 and has its office in the UTC area, isn’t the least surprised or worried by one more new community bank moving into his neighborhood.
“I say welcome to all the newcomers because there’s a great opportunity in our marketplace for a new community bank,” Siciliano said. “There are a lot of clients who are unhappy being a client of one of the big banks.”
Within the past year, four new community banks opened in the county: Regents Bank in La Jolla, Sunrise Bank in the UTC area, Discovery Valley Bank in San Marcos, and Ramona National Bank.
At least two other banks are in formation: Landmark National Bank in Solana Beach, and Security Business Bank in Downtown.
Landmark, the new bank group headed by longtime community bankers Ron Bird and Ron Carlson received regulatory approvals from the FDIC and the Office of the Comptroller of Currency recently. The group hopes to get the go-ahead from regulators in about a month to raise the necessary capital in a public stock offering.
“When we filed our application Sept. 18, we originally anticipated that it would take four months (for approval), but it took 5 & #733; months,” Carlson said. “When you’re dealing with regulators there’s not a whole lot you can do except be patient.”
Once Landmark’s prospectus is approved, the group shouldn’t have much trouble raising between $10 million and $12 million , enough to open the bank’s doors by mid July, Carlson said.
“We have a very large number of prospective shareholders which gives us the confidence that we can do pretty well,” he said.
The bank, which will open its office in the Lomas Santa Fe Shopping Center off Interstate 5, also announced the addition of Orrin Gabsch to its 10-member board of directors, which includes the two Rons. Carlson is the chairman and CEO, while Bird is vice chairman and president.
