Executives ready for heavy lending

Paul Clinton

A cadre of business heavyweights say they’ll launch a new bank in

Costa Mesa by mid-May to tap into the underserved market of small

business loans.

Commercial Bank of California is scheduled to open May 12 in the

former Imperial Bank offices on the first floor of the Deloitte &

Touche building.

Led by an executive with a Newport Beach bank, the group includes

William Lyons, the chairman of local homebuilder William Lyon Homes;

Paul Folino, Emulex Corp.’s chairman; and Roger Kirwin, the president

of Worldwide Financial Services in Newport Beach.

“We are very serious about this and want to make an impact on the

market,” Lyon said Friday. “We want to service these businesses that

are overlooked.”

The board also includes Richard Frankel, chairman and chief

executive of Newport Beach-based Duxford Financial Inc.; Frank

Willey, vice chairman of Fidelity National; and Alex Meruelo,

president of Meruelo Enterprises of Downey.

In late March, the group wrapped up a $27.4 million cash call from

36 privately selected investors. Lyon, who topped the list of people

who provided cash to launch the bank, will serve as the chairman of

the board.

Commercial Bank’s founder, Bala Balkrishna, left his position as

vice president at Newport Beach’s First Bank & Trust to launch the

independent lender. The bank will be the highest capitalized start-up

lender in the state, Balkrishna said.

The group was able to raise the cash despite a struggling economy.

“It is the best time,” Balkrishna said. “The economy has been

lagging for almost two years. Even though it is still struggling, it

is not in that bad a shape in Orange County.”

Bank leaders say they’ll target a group of small companies and

people of high net worth. The bank will also do some retail lending

by offering loans for cars, boats and homes.

The community bank will emphasize loans from $250,000 to $5

million, Balkrishna said. Commercial could loan as much as $6 million

in secured financing, he added.

Balkrishna hired the Irvine-based Carpenter Co. as consultants to

walk him through the regulatory process.

Commercial Bank is expected to face competition from Pacific

Mercantile Bankcorp of Costa Mesa and Sunwest Bank of Tustin.

Local business leaders are welcoming Commercial Bank as another

cash pipeline for businesses looking to start up or expand.

“This type of lending has been severely lacking over the past few

years,” said Ed Fawcett, president of the Costa Mesa Chamber of

Commerce. “This could fill that need.”

* PAUL CLINTON covers the environment, business and politics. He

may be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail at

[email protected].