Two of County’s Longest-Running Banks Plan Merger

A pair of Orange County’s longest-running independent banks said Tuesday they plan to combine in a $6-million deal that will turn Bank of Yorba Linda into a four-office, 100-employee institution.

The agreement calls for Bank of Westminster to merge into Bank of Yorba Linda, adding its branch offices in Westminster and Huntington Beach to the north Orange County bank’s offices in Yorba Linda and Costa Mesa.

The combined banks will have assets of about $120 million, each institution accounting for about half the total.

Bank of Yorba Linda reported a $1-million profit for 1995 while Bank of Westminster posted a profit of $460,000.

Robert Ucciferri, president and chief executive at Bank of Yorba Linda, said the merger is necessary in today’s market because community banks need to combine to survive.

Bank of Yorba Linda began looking for merger partners a year ago and talked to several, including Bank of Westminster. Subsequent negotiations with a different bank broke down several months ago, Ucciferri said, and Bank of Westminster President Donald Solsby asked to resume talks.

The merger is contingent on regulatory and shareholder approval and Bank of Yorba Linda’s ability to raise sufficient cash in a secondary stock offering planned for the second quarter.

If the deal is completed, the merger should have no impact on employees of the two banks, Ucciferri said. He and Solsby will stay with the combined banking operation “and we are looking to keep just about everybody else. We are a small operation and we need ‘em,” Ucciferri said.

Bank of Westminster, founded in November 1979, has about 30 employees. Bank of Yorba Linda, which maintains a small Business Administration loan office and mortgage loan department, has about 70. It began operations in March 1980.