The purchase includes the historic building located on the corner of East Main and Mill streets. The Harvard branch office will continue to be leased.“We’re excited about coming in and providing community banking services, and we’ll make the change over as pleasant experience as possible” for both customers and staff, which Skinner said would remain intact, as “We absolutely don’t intend to eliminate any positions. We very much want to keep the staff,” who met with Skinner and others late last week.“They’re great people, very high quality, and we’re looking forward to working with them, and we’ll probably be employing more people” for lending services. Services will be localized: “We don’t want to centralize this and run it from Ojai... we’re going to run it there, and the longer term plan when we get the infrastructure in place,” all decision making will be made from Santa Paula’s local offices. “And we’re looking forward to hearing from the community what’s needed and wanted.”And that includes financial support for the city’s various nonprofit programs and projects: “When this board joined me in starting this bank, they really had a belief that community banks are for helping to build communities,” which Skinner said led to the creation of the Ojai Community Bank’s charitable giving program. “The staff at those offices are going to have a lot of say in how they get money out to the community... we’ll definitely be setting aside money for donations” and garnering staff input for distribution.Overall, noted Skinner, the new Santa Paula Community Bank is “looking forward to hearing what’s needed and wanted,” both charitably and business-wise. And that includes one-on-one contact: “We hope to have some individuals join us on an economic advisory board to give us advice.”
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(Above left) Santa Barbara Bank & Trust building at 948 E. Main St. and (above right) Santa Barbara Bank & Trust building at 537 W. Harvard Blvd. |
Ojai Community Bank acquires local branches of Santa Barbara Bank & Trust
July 16, 2008
Branches to open as Santa Paula Community Bank
Santa Paula News
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula TimesThe young Ojai Community Bank will grow three times its present physical size with the acquisition of the Santa Barbara Bank & Trust branch offices in Santa Paula. The standalone Ojai Community Bank announced Friday they are acquiring the two SBB&T branches - which will be renamed Santa Paula Community Bank - for an undisclosed sum in a deal that would be finalized with the approval of shareholders and regulators, probably in the fourth quarter of 2008.Ojai Community Bank President Shari Skinner said that the bank and Pacific Capital Bancorp, SBB&T’s parent company, have signed a definitive agreement to purchase the two retail branches, located at 948 E. Main St. and 537 W. Harvard Blvd. The acquisition is the first example of Ojai Community Bank’s focus on widening their presence in community banking.“We are very pleased at this opportunity to expand our presence into the Santa Paula community, which perfectly aligns with our growth strategy of creating very small, local banks tied closely to their communities,” said Board Chairman Donald Scanlin in a written statement.“Since we opened in 2005, we have demonstrated our ability as a local leader in community banking, and we are ready to expand that successful business model into the Santa Paula market. Our bank is a dedicated community partner with a demonstrated commitment to assisting local economic development and a wide range of nonprofit and civic organizations.” Ojai Community Bank, Scanlin added, is “looking forward to making the same contribution to Santa Paula.”Skinner noted that Ojai Community Bank will be operating both local branches under the Santa Paula Community Bank name, and “Customers of both offices will continue to be served by the same employees who will join our team at the time the transaction is final.” Skinner said that with the Ojai bank’s approximately $40 million in deposits and the approximately $59 million in the Santa Paula based SBB&T branches, “we’ll be at about $110 million when we finish the deal... it’s pretty exciting for us.”The fact that the Fillmore SBB&T branch office is not included in the sale was the choice of Pacific Capital Bancorp. “They weren’t offering Fillmore... had they offered we would have been interested. They have to pursue their own business plan.”Ojai Community Bank’s main focus is “on true community banking, the small business and consumer loans,” and Skinner noted that the bank “appreciates” Pacific Capital offering the opportunity to broaden business into Santa Paula. “We think Santa Paula is a very interesting and very positive community and that this will be a very good thing on both sides,” said Skinner.
