California

Pacific Capital Bancorp in Santa Barbara, Calif., is using some of its excess cash to pay down debt and resume paying interest on trust preferred securities.

Continuing its expansion in entertainment hotbeds outside of Southern California, City National Bank in Los Angeles has opened its first banking office in Atlanta.

Bank of the West plans to almost double the size of its small-business banking team during the next year.

The Nasdaq has warned Broadway Financial Corp. that the company is in danger of being delisted from the exchange.

Mission Community Bank in San Luis Obispo, Calif., has named Tom L. Dobyns, a longtime California community banker, as its new chief executive.

Two Los Angeles community banks largely owned by the same investment group are planning to merge - the latest in a string of deals between California banks.

First Northern Community Bancorp in Dixon, Calif., said Monday that it had exited the Troubled Asset Relief Program after repurchasing a stock warrant from the Treasury Department.

Hanmi Financial said it is planning to sell 87.5 million common stock shares at 80 cents a share, using a "substantial portion" of the funds to provide capital to its banking unit and to support growth.

Nara Bancorp Inc. and Center Financial Corp. said on Monday that they had cleared their last regulatory hurdle for their planned merger after they received approval from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Opus Bank in Irvine, Calif., said Friday that it has raised $100 million in capital from management and investment funds as part of a plan to keep pace with its loan growth.

Nara Bancorp Inc. announced this week that it intends to raise $55 million in connection with its pending acquisition of Center Financial Corp. — a far cry from the $150 million it initially said it would need to seal the deal.

SVB Financial Group's stock was up sharply Friday after the company reported third-quarter earnings that handily beat analysts' estimates.

Silicon Valley Bank said Thursday that it has received a key approval from a Chinese regulator to establish a joint venture bank in Shanghai.

The two largest U.S. banks serving Chinese Americans — Cathay General Bancorp and East West Bancorp Inc. — both reported double-digit jumps in third-quarter profits. Each cited solid demand for commercial loans.

Sabal Financial Group L.P. of Newport Beach, Calif., has acquired a $153 million portfolio of loans located in some of the hardest hit regions of the United States.

Huntington Bancshares Inc. of Columbus, Ohio, and Security California Bancorp of Riverside, Calif., will add offices in the coming months.

Technology Credit Union has applied to NCUA to convert to a mutual savings bank, which, at $1.5 billion, would be the biggest credit union conversion to bank yet.

BofI Holding Inc. in San Diego announced Monday that it has changed the name of its federally chartered savings bank from Bank of Internet USA to BofI Federal Bank.

Ambitious Opus Bank announced Monday that it has signed lease agreements to open five new branches in California and Washington.

BB&T Corp.'s insurance unit has agreed to acquire Liberty Benefit Insurance Services, a purchase that will expand its California operations.