BANKING

No Deposit, No Return: Two financially troubled local banks--CommerceBank in Newport Beach and Pioneer Bank in Fullerton--revealed this week that they were having a tough time raising money to rescue their institutions, but that isn’t stopping investors from putting money into other financial institutions.

Bank of Orange County, a small Fountain Valley bank, recently raised nearly $2.8 million from its directors and large shareholders to make it one of the area’s stronger institutions.

The one-branch operation wants to use the extra cash to buy a second office in the area, said Harvey Ferguson, the bank’s president.

“We see signs of things picking up,” Ferguson said, “though it’s picking up more in the business sector than in the real estate sector.”

He hopes that, with a loss of more than $200,000 expected this quarter, the bank can begin to post profits the rest of the year. It lost $442,000 last year and about $200,000 in this year’s first quarter.

Being cautious, Ferguson said he is socking more money away in reserve to protect against possible loan losses in the future, an action that is causing the losses. But the bank is profitable every month on an operating basis.