First National Bank of Northern California is proving that you're never too old for a face-lift.
Over the last few months, the 33-year-old bank has completely revamped itself - with a new name, headquarters, president, and SBA status.
Formerly the First National Bank of Daly City, Calif., First National Bank of Northern California is now based in South San Francisco.
The $220 million-asset bank, which has 11 branches along the peninsula area between San Francisco and San Jose, appointed Paul Hogan president in October and last month was awarded certified lender status by the Small Business Administration.
Chief executive Michael R. Wyman said the moves weren't problem related. In fact, the bank is enjoying a banner year.
"We expect to make about $2.8 million this year, which would make it our best year ever," Mr. Wyman said. "Our average return on assets is around 1.2% or 1.3%, and our average return on equity is above 10%, so we're doing well."
Mr. Wyman said there were several reasons behind its transformation and that the name change will better reflect the bank's range in the Bay Area.
"We thought it would be geographically more palatable if we went by Northern California instead of Daly City," he said. "It would enable us to expand our marketability into other areas more easily, if we should choose to do so."
Interestingly, First National's changes haven't made much of a ripple. Mr. Hogan, who joined the bank last January as executive vice president before being named president in October, said the bank was always known simply as "First National." He added that the bank doesn't even plan a marketing campaign to avoid customer confusion.
"What we did with this name change is just formalize the fact that we're in Northern California, as opposed to a single community," Mr. Hogan said.
Mr. Hogan, a longtime industry consultant, has also worked with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
The bank, which had been operating out of Daly City since 1964, moved up to South San Francisco to consolidate its loan offices and upgrade its executive offices.
The new SBA status will give it some added muscle in its effort to attract more small-business clients. Mr. Wyman said First National now has an SBA loan portfolio of about $3 million.
First National, which opened in 1963, moved to Daly City in 1964. Although it relocated to a larger locale within Daly City in 1987, it remained in the San Francisco bedroom community until its recent move.
