City National Says It Will Buy Ventura County National Bancorp

Ventura County lost another community bank Monday--a victim of the continuing trend of giant banks gobbling up smaller ones.

Beverly Hills-based City National Bank has revealed plans to buy Ventura County National Bancorp for $47 million.

The purchase--expected to be completed in early 1997--would merge the county’s largest local bank with Southern California’s largest independent bank, and add another name to the ranks of vanished Ventura County financial institutions.

Former banking giant First Interstate (recently acquired by Wells Fargo) swallowed up 113-year-old Bank of A. Levy last year and Bank of the Oaks in 1994. And Ventura County National Bank itself--founded in 1982 by local investors--expanded by absorbing Conejo Bank in 1986, Frontier Bank in 1989 and a branch of Westco Bank in Orange County in 1990.

The merger will bring VCNB stockholders cash, stock or a combination of the two valued at $5.03 per share, or about 1.6 times VCNB’s book value on June 30.

If shareholders and banking regulators approve, City National Corp. will absorb Ventura County National Bancorp’s six branches--including Ventura County National Bank branches in Ventura, Oxnard, Camarillo and Westlake and Frontier Bank branches in Wilmington and La Palma.

City National might lay off some back-office workers, such as check processors, from Ventura County National Bank, said City National Chairman Russell Goldsmith.

But City National also will offer laid-off employees a chance to apply for work elsewhere in the merged 29-branch bank, Goldsmith said, adding that the union will create some new jobs.

What’s more, City National, which has $3.9 billion in assets, plans to keep open all four VCNB branches in Ventura County, Goldsmith said.

“We’re actually very excited to be coming to Ventura County,” he said. “The markets that we’re most familiar with--agricultural, construction, technology--are all markets that are here in Ventura County.”

VCNB Chairman Richard Cupp called the deal “a happy marriage between the county’s leading independent bank and Southern California’s leading independent bank.”

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But the news did not sit well with some Ventura County National Bank customers who were still reeling from the Bank of A. Levy’s demise.

“I like the idea of banking with a small, independent bank,” said mortgage broker Gene Scholl, standing outside VCNB’s tan stucco building in Westlake. “They do cater to business people here, and when you come in to bank, the people know you on a first-name basis.”

Scholl and business partner Dave Walter first opened their account with VCNB when First Interstate bought out Bank of A. Levy.

Now the two say they will leave Ventura County National Bank and hunt for another local financial institution, perhaps Los Robles Bank.

Chances are that VCNB branches will still appear the same, with plush carpeting, dark wood fixtures and etched, frosted glass teller windows, the pair acknowledged. But the money won’t stay in Ventura County any longer.

“Part of the deal with a local bank is that the profits stay in the local community, as does the tax base and the businesses they support,” Scholl said.

The irony, he added, is that a handful of the existing VCNB tellers were hired after the Bank of A. Levy layoffs. Once again, he said, those workers could face job insecurity.

Goldsmith of City National said that the renamed branches will offer the same services--and more--after the merger.

“We’re going to bring some new products and services to Ventura County, adding to the mix that’s offered here,” he said.”

And Cupp, VCNB’s chief executive officer, dismissed the notion that the absorption of the county’s largest independent bank spells doom for other, smaller institutions, such as Simi Valley Bank and Channel Islands National Bank.

But UC Santa Barbara economist Mark Schniepp said the merger itself simply follows a trend.

“This has been the wave of the 1990s--bank mergers, consolidations, downsizing,” Schniepp said. “It’s been very difficult for smaller community banks to survive in the 1990s.”

Schniepp added, “This merger doesn’t have a lot of the sort of juicy ingredients that were associated with the other mergers, such as branch closings and employee layoffs and major changes of scenery. This seems to be a lot more tame, a lot more benign, so to speak.”

The larger bank could actually benefit customers by lowering the costs of banking, he said.

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For some customers, the change comes down to a simple issue: service.

Agoura accountant Svetlana Moldenhauer said she was indifferent about the ownership change. And she probably won’t switch banks, as long as the employees aren’t hurt in the process.

“They really do have good service here,” said Moldenhauer, standing outside the tree-shaded Westlake branch, her gray and burgundy VCNB bank book in hand. “I like the people here. I hope they don’t leave.”

Reed is a Times staff writer; Folmar is a Times correspondent.