Camarillo Office a Success for American Commercial

American Commercial Bank of Ventura opened a Camarillo loan production facility in October 1996 with the goal of reaching $3 million in loans. It reached that milestone in a hurry, and now, a year after it first ventured beyond Ventura city limits, the institution is nearing the $6-million mark.

Such success has bred confidence in bank officials who recently transformed the Ventura Boulevard loan office into a full-service branch.

The bank now has four branches, three in Ventura.

“We’ve pretty much had Ventura covered,” said Jim Beeninga, president of American Commercial Bank.

“We’ve been eyeing peripheral cities, and the determination was made that we have quite a bit of business from Camarillo already.”

Beeninga said the 25-year-old institution opened its loan office with a bank charter in hand, but officials were taking a cautious approach to expansion.

“We were going to play it by ear and when business dictated that we were accepted in Camarillo, we’d make a decision to open a branch,” he said. “In Camarillo we are centrally located and we can draw from Oxnard, Thousand Oaks and possibly even Moorpark.”

Depending on the success of the new branch, bank officials may expand to other Ventura County cities in the future, Beeninga said.

“We’re a pretty conservative bank,” he said. “When this branch is profitable, we’ll look for other opportunities in other communities in the surrounding area.”

American Commercial Bank has assets of $133 million. Beeninga said the Camarillo branch could account for $25 million to $30 million within the next five years.