O.C. Bank Files for Liquidation Under Chapter 7
CommerceBancorp, seized last week by regulators, announced late Wednesday that it has filed for liquidation under Chapter 7 of the federal bankruptcy code.
William E. Langston, the bank’s vice chairman, would not comment on the announcement.
A lawyer for the bank said in a news release that the company “does not anticipate that any distributions will be available for the shareholders.”
In its bankruptcy filing, CommerceBancorp listed liabilities of nearly $12.3 million and assets of only $165,574, according to the press release.
State banking officials shut down the 15-year-old business bank Friday, saying it was “operating in an unsafe manner.”
The bank’s main office in Newport Beach and its branch in Orange were to reopen as offices of Covina-based California State Bank. Branches in Costa Mesa and Long Beach were to close, and their accounts were to be shifted to the Newport Beach office.
In June, the bank delayed a $14-million stock offering that would have brought in badly needed capital and could have helped stave off the closure. Bank officials said the offering was postponed because of publicity about the institution’s ties to First Pension Corp., an Irvine pension management firm that allegedly lost $121 million of investors’ retirement funds.
CommerceBancorp has been on the state’s list of troubled banks since 1990.
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