Profits Slide for Ventura County National Bancorp

Ventura County National Bancorp, the parent of Ventura County National Bank and Frontier Bank, said record commercial loan charge-offs totaling about $1 million helped send third-quarter profits down 52% to $655,000 from $1.4 million in the year-earlier quarter. Last year’s third-quarter profit included a $790,000 gain on the sale of certain mortgage servicing, the parent company said. For the nine months ended Sept. 30, the bank holding company’s earnings fell 49% to $1.5 million from $2.9 million a year earlier.

William E. McAleer, president and chief executive of Ventura County National Bancorp, said one of the charged-off loans was made to a small manufacturer in Orange County and the other was made to a food distributor in Ventura County. Both businesses failed during the quarter, he said.

In addition to the charge-offs, the weak economy and falling interest rates were to blame for the lower earnings.

Non-performing loans rose to 2.1% of total loans as of Sept. 30, contrasted with 0.4% a year earlier, but they declined from the 3.5% level at the end of the second quarter this year, the bank said.