[quote=davelj]This is an old thread that I thought of after Vineyard got seized last week. They made it a hell of a lot longer than I thought they would.
Anyhow, I’m hearing through the grapevine that FBOP Corp. isn’t long for this world. It’s a private bank holding company with 100% of the stock owned by a very nice guy, a once-disciplined banker. But he took on too much construction and development and… bought $1.2 billion of Fannie/Freddie trust preferred that went to zippo. And he levered up. The two killers of banking: concentration and leverage. They’ll get you every time.
Anyhow, FBOP owns San Diego National, Cal National up in LA, and Pacific National in SF, among other banks in Texas, Arizona, and Illinois. I suspect that these will all fail in due course.
Also, locally, it looks like Imperial Capital is headed for the skids. Between Imperial Capital and San Diego National, that’s two fairly large local institutions. For what it’s worth.[/quote]
Dave: Vineyard doesn’t surprise me, they were in extremis for a long while. It’s funny, I happened to drive by their branch off the 15 and the 91 in Corona on my way back from Ontario Airport on Wednesday.
Too bad about SDNB, though. Several of my construction clients back in my consulting days used to bank with them and they had an excellent construction lending and surety bonding support program. Solid mid-level local players like SDNB and Grossmont Bank (before they became CB&T) really helped “grow” San Diego and did so with solidly underwritten loans, smart, careful programs and long-term personal relationships. Soon, it’ll be nothing but big nationals like Wells, BofA and Citi and totally impersonal, automated banking.
