National Bancorp Picks New President

Longtime banking executive Richard S. Cupp has been named president and chief executive officer of Ventura County National Bancorp, replacing William E. McAleer, who resigned May 3 after 11 years in the position, the company announced this week.

Bank officials said they were counting on the corporation’s new president and chief executive officer to brighten the company’s financial standing, which has sagged under pressure from the recession.

“(Cupp’s) past accomplishments give us confidence that he will provide the leadership needed to return the company to its past levels of profitability,” said James B. Hussey, chairman of Ventura County National Bancorp.

Cupp comes to the Ventura banking company after 10 years as executive vice president of California Federal Bank.

Ventura County National Bancorp also announced this week that it incurred a $2.6-million loss for the second quarter of 1993.

The loss stemmed from continued financial hardship and a transfer of $8.3 million over the last six months to a problem-loan reserve to guard against bad debts, said Peter Banks, the company’s chief financial officer.

Overdue loans that are still accruing interest totaled $5.79 million on June 30, nearly 13 times where they stood at the same time last year, officials said in a statement.

The amount that the corporation transferred to its problem-loan reserve was nearly 19 times higher than the amount transferred last year, officials said.