Don't mess with the locals.
Following the merger of California's Santa Cruz County Bank and First Capital Bank, the organization rebranded in April 2025, reintroducing itself to customers as West Coast Community Bank. For Chairman and CEO Krista Snelling, one message had to be loud and clear: We are still a community bank.
"Santa Cruz has historically had a very hippy-dippy vibe, and proudly," Snelling said. "There's a very big culture here of doing things local: bank local, shop local, local local local. And that's wonderful. But there was a fair amount of trepidation about changing the name away from Santa Cruz County Bank."
The merger, however, which closed in October of 2024, grew the bank's size by 55% to $2.8 billion in assets. It expanded its geographic presence from three counties to four, with 10 branches spanning 200 miles of California coast — leaving the legacy name "Santa Cruz County Bank" inaccurate.
In the wake of the merger and rebrand, Snelling personally met with key customers to reinforce that relationships with the organization would not change. In the early months of 2025, to ensure that all customers had access to the bank, she hired a firm to operate as its first-line call center, and doubled down on the investment.
"We literally hired twice as many people as they told us we needed, spending $150,000 more than they recommended," said Snelling, who was elected to the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco in 2025. "I'm not going to have people waiting on hold. We didn't want anyone to feel like we turned into a giant behemoth that doesn't care anymore."
Snelling's commitment to making customers feel prioritized is driving business. In the wake of the rebrand, client retention has exceeded expectations. In Santa Cruz County and Monterey County (the respective homes of the two legacy brands), WCCB has 16% and 7% market share, respectively. The bank recorded record net income of $50.4 million in 2025; Q1 of 2026 saw an 8.8% jump in net income over Q4 2025.
Under Snelling's leadership, customer referrals have brought significant new business, particularly in the agriculture space, driving some of the biggest industry deals in the organization's history, according to Chief Banking Officer Jon Sisk.
"Customers have realized: This is a better bank now, I can do bigger deals," he said. "We've gotten referrals from smaller farmers in the area that said, 'Hey, these guys are fantastic, and Krista will go down and meet you personally.' I think that's why we've seen so much growth; people really get direct access to Krista."
As 2025 came to a close, the bank adopted a new loan origination system and other new tech upgrades to streamline operations after more than doubling in size. "We're doing all of these things to operate as a $3 billion bank," Snelling said, "as opposed to operating as a $1.5 billion bank with extra bodies thrown at the work."
