Ex-Bank Chief Starts Financial Company

William E. McAleer, who resigned in May as president and chief executive of Ventura County National Bancorp and its key unit, Ventura County National Bank, has started his own company, W. E. McAleer Financial Corp.

The firm will operate in three fields--mortgage banking, investment banking and real estate sales. In announcing his new enterprise, McAleer cited “tremendous opportunities” in Ventura County, adding that “traditional financing services are not being responsive to these opportunities.”

That may, or may not, have been intended as a swipe at his former employer. McAleer’s departure from VCNB came as the bank was headed toward a rough year. VCNB just posted a $12.1 million loss for 1993.

Last year, McAleer denied that the bank’s results had anything to do with his resignation, saying he left because, among other things, he disagreed with directors over the company’s future direction.

McAleer’s new office, like his old one, is in Oxnard’s Financial Plaza. This time, however, he’s based in the Union Bank Building, not the nearby VCNB high-rise.