North Bay Business Journal

NORTH BAY — While the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s record-breaking close above 15,000 was a highly watched milestone this month, wealth managers in the North Bay expressed caution. Those broader market gains are no doubt good for many investors, they said, but it is the ones with a long-term strategy who have stayed in the markets during the past few years of downturns that are reaping the greatest rewards.

Exchange Bank announced its after-tax income for the first three months this year was 9 percent higher than a year before, partly attributed to improvements in efficiency and loan quality. …

A low interest rate environment a fierce competition for loans was cited for a decline in first quarter earnings for San Rafael-based Westamerica Bank, with parent company Westamerica Bancorporation announcing net income had fallen 17.6 percent versus the same period last year. …

Terry Davis has joined Santa Rosa’s SAFE-BIDCO as chief financial officer, his latest leadership role in a long history as a North Bay banking executive. …

Kimberly Kaselionis, who served as CEO of the former Circle Bank, has joined her mother, Kit Cole, as an inductee in the Marin Women’s Hall of Fame. …

SANTA ROSA — Exchange Bank today reported its after-tax income for the first three months this year was 9 percent higher than a year before, partly attributed to improvements in efficiency and loan quality.

WINDSOR — Santa Rosa’s Exchange Bank is preparing to recast its Windsor branch as a testing ground for the future of brick-and-mortar banking, optimizing the location for an era when advanced ATMs and Web services have encroached significantly on the role of the traditional bank branch, executives said.

SANTA ROSA — Exchange Bank saved millions of dollars last year when it bought back nearly 45 percent of stock sold to the U.S. Department of the Treasury as part of 2008′s Capital Repurchase Program, partially unwinding its own involvement with the national initiative launched to boost capital at banks hit hard by the financial crisis.

While many businesses, homebuyers and individuals have benefited from the Federal Reserve’s continuing effort to keep interest rates low, that same economic policy — along with heightened pressure from regulators and tepid demand for new loans — has added up to a time of historic challenge for community lenders in the North Bay and beyond.

Executives at North Bay financial institutions said they saw no clear end for the current conditions.

Bank of Marin donated $25,000 to SchoolsRule–Marin, part of its pledge to allocate 35 percent of its total corporate giving to education-related organizations in 2013. …

After joining the board of directors for the Oakland-based Women’s Initiative for Self-Employment, Kimberly Kaselionis has worked to restart a specialized loan program for women entrepreneurs in Marin County that she helped launch while chief executive of the former Circle Bank. …

Santa Rosa’s Exchange Bank celebrated the 50th anniversary of its Trust & Investment Management department this month. …

Santa Rosa native Jonathan Graves has joined First Community Bank as vice president and commercial loan officer. …

As investigators continue to aggressively pursue allegations of business embezzlement in Sonoma County, regional fraud experts warn that many North Bay companies and nonprofits still lack the basic internal practices needed to catch and prevent those crimes.

Santa Rosa’s Exchange Bank announced that net income for all of 2012 had risen slightly versus income for 2011, meeting the bank’s projections despite a lukewarm demand for financing from both households and businesses. …

Net income at Novato-based Bank of Marin was up 14.5 percent in 2012 compared to 2011, with $17.8 million representing $3.28 per share, according to an announcement by the bank. …

Year-over-year net income rose 55 percent for Santa Rosa’s Summit State Bank, a period that president and CEO Tom Duryea called “the best year yet in our 38-year history.” …

Citing challenges of a low-interest-rate environment, San Rafael-based Westamerica Bank announced that 2012 net income had slipped 7.7 percent from 2011. …

Bank of Napa, N.A. announced record profit in 2012, with net income up by more than two-thirds from the year before. …

Dixon-based First Northern Bank announced that net income of $4.6 million for all of 2012 marked a 70.4 percent increase versus net income in 2011. …

Total assets as of Dec. 31 were $831.5 million, up $50.3 million — 6.4 percent — compared to one year prior. Total deposits were $730.8 million, up 7.6 percent from the same period in 2011. …

Annual net assets rose 15.82 percent for Santa Rosa’s Community First Credit Union comparing 2012 to 2011, reaching $150.63 million in a period of rapid growth for the lender, according to an announcement. …

SANTA ROSA — Exchange Bank today announced that net income for all of 2012 had risen slightly versus income for 2011, meeting the bank’s projections despite a lukewarm demand for financing from both households and businesses.

Featured in this spotlight on commercial lenders are executives at American River Bank, AltaPacific, Bank of America, Bank of Marin, Bank of Napa, Bank of the West, Comerica Bank, Exchange Bank, First Community Bank, First Northern Bank, Luther Burbank Savings, JP Morgan Chase, Mechanics Bank, Presidio Bank, Rabobank, Silicon Valley Bank, Sonoma Bank, State Assistance Fund for Enterprise Business and Industrial Development Corporation (SAFE-BIDCO), Summit State Bank, Travis Credit Union, U.S. Bank, Umpqua Bank, Union Bank, Warren Capital, Wells Fargo and Westamerica Bank.

In the wake of his sudden death Monday, the North Bay business community remembered David Brown as the epitome of a community banker: a man for whom personal and professional relationships frequently converged, with an underlying sense of charity that influenced all aspects of his life.

SANTA ROSA — An anonymous donation to fund scholarships at Santa Rosa Junior College has grown to $6 million, following an additional $1 million gift from the original donor.

NORTH BAY — While the Federal Reserve’s continued effort to keep interest rates as low as possible has helped many borrowers to refinance existing debt or purchase property in 2012, that same economic policy has also narrowed margins for financial institutions and investors and created a period of historic challenge for firms of all sizes in the North Bay and beyond.

SANTA ROSA — Two of the North Bay’s largest financial institutions have unveiled new mobile banking applications, seeking to address a wave of consumer demand for technology that was once only within reach of the nation’s largest banks.

A number of wine industry lenders in the North Bay have seen an uptick in demand for financing this year as wineries, vineyards and related industries seek to position themselves more strongly in a changed economy.

The volume of small business lending backed by the U.S. Small Business Administration in the Bay Area reached an all-time high during the last fiscal year, and volume for such loans in three North Bay counties grew by more than one-third.

NORTH BAY — The Business Journal has selected 17 companies for our second annual Healthiest Companies Recognition Awards to be honored at the North Bay Business Journal’s 2012 Health Care Conference.

SANTA ROSA — Exchange bank announced a net after tax profit for the third quarter of $3.2 million, 7 percent higher than during the same period last year.

Read profiles about winners of the Business Journal’s Best Places to Work 2012 with 251 to 500 employees: Bradley Real Estate, Exchange Bank, Mary’s Pizza Shack and Redwood Credit Union.