VCNB Completes City National Merger

It’s official now. The county’s last bank headquartered locally, Ventura County National Bank, completed its merger with Los Angeles-based City National Bank on Friday with promises that the move would make the new bank more responsive to the county’s economy and its customers’ needs.

“What it’s going to mean is that customers are going to have a much wider range of services available to them,” VCNB Chairman Richard Cupp said.

Specifically, Cupp, who will leave the bank after the transition is complete, said that with the newly added financial muscle of City National, the bank will have a greater lending capacity for customers. Also, the bank will be able to add trust and investment services as well as several international services.

VCNB’s nearly $300 million in assets will be combined with the more than $4 billion of City National assets, making it the largest independent bank in Southern California. With the merger, all VCNB branches become branches of City National Bank.

Cupp said the merger would not result in the bank closing any of its branch offices in Ventura County, and would require laying off only a handful of employees.

“We like to say we’re changing hands not faces,” he said.

Despite that, Cupp said the merger was the best possible move for VCNB, which has been a fixture in the community for the past decade.

Friday’s merger culminated what has been a nearly yearlong round of discussions between the two banks and their shareholders.

Under the merger, City National bought the bank for about $47 million with VCNB shareholders, who received more than $5 per share--about twice its book value as of last June 30.