VCN Bancorp Plans to Merge 2 Banks

Ventura County National Bancorp is planning to merge its key operating unit, Ventura County National Bank, with its two-branch subsidiary, Frontier Bank. The consolidation should result in considerable cost savings and no branch closures are planned, said Nancy Jackson, VCN Bancorp’s senior vice president for administration and investor relations.

As part of the consolidation, 18 positions have been eliminated at the two banks in the past month, Jackson said. VCN Bancorp’s total work force now stands at 192.

Fourteen of the jobs eliminated were at Frontier, which has branches in Los Angeles and Orange counties, and four were at Oxnard-based VCN Bank, Jackson said. She said no further layoffs are expected.

W.E. McAleer, president and chief executive officer of VCN Bancorp, said in a statement that in addition to cost savings, the merger, if approved by the comptroller of the currency, will enhance the marketing of Bancorp’s cash-management and other programs.

As of March 31, VCN Bank had assets of $283.8 million and Frontier, which Bancorp acquired in 1989, had assets of $121.9 million.

Jackson said she expects the merger to be approved by September. At that time, she said, Frontier’s offices in Wilmington in L.A. County and La Palma in Orange County will become branches of VCN Bank. VCN Bank now has offices in Oxnard, Ventura, Camarillo and Westlake Village.

In 1991, Bancorp’s earnings plunged 78% to $806,000 from $3.6 million a year earlier. The company blamed the downturn on the recession, depressed real estate values and lower interest rates. However, earnings in this year’s first quarter rebounded to $520,000 from $236,000 a year earlier. The merger should start producing further gains by the end of the third quarter, Jackson said.