Pacific Western Bank Buys Affinity Bank

Pacific Western Bank, based in San Diego, took 
control of failed Affinity Bank on Saturday and assumed responsibility for its customers as of Monday, August 31. This includes the Affinity branch office in Pacific Palisades, which hosted the Chamber of Commerce mixer in March. Ventura-based Affinity, which had about $1.2 billion in assets as of July 31, was shut down on August 29 by the California Department of Financial Institutions after failing to maintain an adequate level of capital, spokeswoman Alana Golden said. Representatives of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. took immediate control of the bank and accepted Pacific Western’s bid to assume the deposits and most of Affinity’s assets. Under the terms of the loss sharing agreement, the FDIC will absorb 80 percent of losses and share in 80 percent of loss recoveries on the first $234 million of losses, and absorb 95 percent of losses and share in 95 percent of loss recoveries on losses exceeding $234 million.   Originally known as San Francisco Thrift and Loan, Affinity Thrift and Loan was purchased by Affinity Group in 1995. The name was changed to Affinity Bank in 1997. In November 2001, Affinity Bank acquired Westcoast Savings in Pacific Palisades at its current location, 15310 Sunset. Westcoast originally opened in 1985 with one deposit branch.   Affinity grew to have seven branches in Southern California, including Camarillo, Thousand Oaks, Irvine and two in Ventura.   ’We welcome Affinity Bank customers to the Pacific Western Bank family,’ said Matt Wagner, CEO of parent company PacWest Bancorp. ‘We look forward to providing strength and service, for which Pacific Western is known, and ensuring new customers from Affinity Bank have the best possible banking products and services at their disposal.’ Affinity Bank customers and Pacific Western Bank customers should continue using their existing branches until Pacific Western can fully integrate Affinity’s systems with the Pacific Western network. After this transition period, Affinity Bank customers will gain access to Pacific Western’s 59 existing locations throughout Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego Counties.   Pacific Western, which was founded in 1982, has 59 locations in five Southland counties and is a wholly owned subsidiary of PacWest Bancorp, a bank holding company with $4.5 billion in assets as of June 30.   The merged banks will provide full-service community banking and commercial banking commercial banking services, including real estate, construction and commercial loans to small and medium-sized businesses.