California

Lending Club said Thursday that it has hired Sameer Gulati, formerly of McKinsey & Co., to be its chief operations officer and promoted another executive, Scott Sanborn, to president. Both are newly created positions at the nonbank lender.

A spike in lending helped profits rise 7.5% year over year in the first quarter at East West Bancorp in Pasadena, Calif.

Community Bank in Pasadena, Calif., said Tuesday that it has named Lyle Knight, a former CEO of First Interstate BancSystem in Billings, Mont., to its board.

Summit State Bank in Santa Rosa, Calif., has a new chief executive.

Bank Leumi USA has hired two bankers from Citigroup, Elsa Burton and Craig Warden, to help lead its operations in Los Angeles.

OneUnited Bank, a minority-owned institution in Boston, will close two branches in California, or about a quarter of its total branch network.

Community Bank in Pasadena, Calif., has promoted from within to fill the positions of president and chief banking officer.

PacWest Bancorp in Los Angeles reported higher quarterly profit led by its acquisition of Square 1 Financial in Durham, N.C.

Profits soared at First Republic Bank in San Francisco thanks to lending growth in several categories and its expansion in wealth management.

Wells Fargo, Wall Street's top oil and gas banker, said first-quarter profit fell 5.9 percent as the firm set aside more money for soured energy loans and expenses increased.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and its U.S. subsidiary, MUFG Union Bank, have named Ranjana Clark to the role of San Francisco Bay Area president.

Green Dot has named three new directors, ignoring the slate of nominees recently proposed by activist investor Harvest Capital Strategies.

The findings from the California Department of Business Oversight, which also included data on interest rates and delinquencies, could be a precursor to new state regulations.

BofI Holding is looking to make more acquisitions and its leader says he doesn’t think accusations from a former employee are unlikely to hold up a deal, even though they’ve dragged down the stock price.

Banc of California in Irvine has agreed to sell its wholly owned investment adviser subsidiary, The Palisades Group.

BofI Holding in San Diego has bought an equipment finance business from PacWest Bancorp in Beverly Hills, Calif.

Banc of California in Irvine has promoted a back-office executive to become chief administrative officer.

Wells Fargo has agreed to pay the state of California $8.5 million to settle a probe into its failure to tell consumers it was recording their calls.

Opus Bank in Irvine, Calif., has hired Jeffrey Zaks, a CIT Group banker, to lead its new media and entertainment lending group.

The president and chief banking officer at Heritage Oaks Bancorp in Paso Robles, Calif., plans to leave the company next month.