Bank’s Chief Executive Resigns : Personnel: William E. McAleer’s departure from Ventura County National Bancorp follows a restated $1.6-million first-quarter loss.

William E. McAleer has resigned as president, chief executive and a director of Ventura County National Bancorp and its Ventura County National Bank unit after the company restated its first-quarter results and posted a $1.6-million loss.

The loss came after adding $3.3 million to its loan-loss reserves, the Oxnard-based bank holding company said.

Previously, it had reported net income of $518,000 for the first quarter. The bank said it would arrange for an independent review of “the circumstances which have resulted” in the increase to its loan-loss reserves. Its assets rose 2% in the quarter ended March 31, to $408.2 million from $400.2 million a year ago.

McAleer, 54, said in an interview that the earnings restatement wasn’t related to his decision to leave the company. He said he resigned because he disagreed with federal regulators and Ventura National Bancorp’s directors over the company’s future direction.

“I need to have the freedom to run a company as I see fit,” he said.

McAleer added that over the past few years, California’s sagging economy has led to increased regulatory pressures on banks.

In turn, those pressures strained his relationship with some board members.

McAleer, who founded Ventura County National Bank in 1982, had been with the bank for the past 11 years.

Ventura County National Bancorp’s stock tumbled $1.50 a share when McAleer’s departure was announced May 4, closing that day at $2.50 a share in NASDAQ composite trading. The company’s stock closed Monday at $3.

James Hussey, chairman of Ventura County National Bancorp, said the company’s board will conduct a search for a new chief executive.

Until that person is hired, Ventura County National Bancorp and Ventura County National Bank will be managed by a committee made up of directors drawn from the two companies.

Earlier this month, McAleer stepped down as acting president and chief executive of Frontier Bank, the company’s other bank subsidiary, when the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency called for Frontier to put in full-time managers. Frontier is based in La Palma.

In a consent order signed after the regulatory review, Frontier also agreed to develop an asset-diversification program.

The program will try and make sure that Frontier’s loans aren’t concentrated in areas that “subject the bank to undue credit or interest-rate risk,” the order said.