Two California franchises become one
Banc of California is the Los Angeles insured bank at FDIC certificate 24045 and Federal Reserve identifier 494261. It held $34.899 billion in assets at June 30, 2026, placing it 62nd in this series’ fixed inventory of domestic insured banks and savings institutions. The October 2 institution index records it as active, with an establishment date of August 26, 1982. Its parent, Banc of California, Inc., reports separately and trades on the New York Stock Exchange as BANC. [1][2][3][4]
The name alone conceals the legal history. In the 2023 combination, the former Banc of California, N.A. merged into Pacific Western Bank, which survived under the Banc of California name. The holding-company transaction ran the other way: PacWest Bancorp merged into Banc of California, Inc. As a result, the present bank is not simply the predecessor national-bank charter with a larger balance sheet; it continues the surviving Pacific Western charter. [5][6]
The two franchises arrived at 2023 by different routes
The legacy Banc of California side traces its roots to Pacific Trust Bank, which began operations in 1941. A June 2012 SEC-filed company announcement identified First PacTrust Bancorp as its holding company, Greg Mitchell as the bank’s chief executive and a $1.1 billion bank serving Southern California through 14 deposit-taking offices. By June 2023, the legacy Banc of California group had $9.37 billion in assets and 26 full-service branches, according to the merger prospectus. This is the predecessor behind the current brand’s 1941 history, rather than the establishment date of today’s surviving charter. [2][6][7]
Outside investors recapitalized First PacTrust in November 2010 to build a broader California banking franchise. The parent changed its name to Banc of California, Inc. in July 2013, and its 2015 Form 10-K describes the consolidation of its banking subsidiaries and growth through both acquisitions and organic expansion. Thus the company name adopted in 2013 was already associated with a combination of businesses before the much larger PacWest transaction a decade later. [10]
PacWest entered 2023 already changing its business. Its merger prospectus describes a January strategy centered on the community bank, stronger and capital, and the exit of selected activities. It had decided to wind down premium-finance and multifamily-lending groups and sold $1 billion of securities at a loss in late 2022 to repay Federal Home Loan Bank borrowing. The later merger therefore followed an existing restructuring effort as well as the acute banking shock that arrived in March. [6]
The deposit shock turned into a funding-cost problem
The joint prospectus records elevated PacWest deposit withdrawals after Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank failed in March 2023. PacWest increased access to Federal Home Loan Bank and Federal Reserve facilities, used reciprocal deposits and arranged additional secured financing. Annex M describes approximately $9 billion of customer deposits leaving during March through May and being replaced by more rate-sensitive brokered deposits and borrowing. Its measured interest-rate risk increased, and internal limits were breached in June. These are disclosures by the merger parties, not findings of a separate enforcement proceeding. [6]
This mechanism matters because replacing a withdrawn deposit with borrowing can supply cash immediately while weakening the earnings spread. Assets originated when funding was cheaper may not reprice as quickly as the replacement liabilities. PacWest’s board considered raising equity during March, but the prospectus says depressed stock prices, market volatility and available asset-sale alternatives led it not to proceed then. Jared Wolff of Banc of California and PacWest chief executive Paul Taylor resumed combination discussions in June after earlier approaches had not produced a transaction. [6]
New equity and asset sales made the merger more than an exchange of shares
The companies announced their merger agreement on July 25, 2023 and completed the parent combination on November 30. The closing release described $400 million of fresh equity from Warburg Pincus-managed funds and investment vehicles associated with Centerbridge Partners. The bank merger followed on December 1. Jared Wolff led the combined organization, which brought together California business-banking relationships and national specialties. This was a negotiated combination with private capital, rather than an FDIC receivership acquisition. [5][6]
The recapitalization was paired with selling assets and reducing expensive funding. By year-end, the company reported $6.1 billion of completed asset sales and repayment of $8.6 billion in high-cost funding. It also reported $442.4 million of fourth-quarter securities-sale losses and $111.8 million of merger costs. The smaller resulting balance sheet was intentional: cash from disposals was used to remove funding whose cost had undermined the old economics. New equity helped support the transaction, while recognized losses reduced reported earnings. [8]
Accounting adds a further boundary. Banc of California was the legal parent survivor, but PacWest was the accounting acquirer in a reverse merger. The company’s historical consolidated results before November 30, 2023 consequently reflect PacWest alone, and its fourth-quarter 2023 results include the combined company only for December. Comparing those figures with the old Banc of California filings without adjusting the reporting perimeter would produce a misleading growth story. [8]
The operating franchise joins commercial credit to customer cash
The combined bank focuses on small, middle-market and venture-backed businesses. Its merger release describes treasury management, commercial and real-estate lending, with specialties including venture banking, homeowners-association services, warehouse lending, entertainment and media, and payments through Deepstack Technologies. These business lines create different needs for operating cash, transaction services and credit. A , for example, finances loans while an originator holds them before a planned sale or other takeout; repayment depends on that funding cycle working. [5][6][9]
The parent’s June 2026 table shows $24.211 billion of loans and leases held for investment, including $14.751 billion of real-estate lending and $5.445 billion in the multifamily category. Those figures are before the allowance and exclude loans classified as held for sale. They demonstrate that a business-banking identity does not remove property exposure. Rents, occupancy, construction completion and refinancing conditions can affect borrowers even when their operating accounts remain with the bank. [4]
Deposits, loan growth and the cost of funding
The FDIC record for the insured bank reports $34.899 billion in assets, $28.220 billion in deposits, $24.883 billion in net loans and leases and $3.764 billion in equity at June 30, 2026. Its net income for January through June was a loss of $152.251 million. This is a bank-level six-month result, not the parent’s second-quarter loss to common shareholders. Net loans are after the allowance and should not be substituted for the group’s gross held-for-investment loan figure. [1]
The consolidated earnings release separately reported $28.121 billion of deposits, including $7.758 billion of noninterest-bearing deposits. Uninsured and uncollateralized deposits were $7.6 billion, or 27% of the consolidated deposit total. Average total deposit cost was 1.80% for the quarter, while net interest margin was 3.13%, down from 3.24% in March’s quarter. The release attributed part of the margin pressure to nonaccrual interest effects and additional short-term funding used during loan growth and debt redemption. These measures show the continuing connection between credit performance, choices and earnings. [4]
A second reset crystallized losses in 2026
In the second quarter of 2026, the company moved $2.3 billion of lower-yielding held-to-maturity securities into the available-for-sale category, sold them and redeployed $1.7 billion into higher-yielding, shorter-duration securities. The release reported a $256.7 million pretax securities loss and a 276-basis-point yield pickup on the reinvested balances. The change exchanged an immediate recognized loss for the prospect of higher future income and less duration exposure. Management’s earnings rationale is an expectation, not an offset that erases the loss already taken. [4]
The company also initiated sales of $827 million in selected commercial-real-estate and multifamily-construction loans and redeemed $385 million of subordinated debt before its rate reset. It reported a $161.8 million credit-loss provision and a $251.3 million second-quarter loss available to common and equivalent stockholders, or $1.61 per share. The July 29 release said purchase-and-sale agreements had been signed and the loan sales were expected to close during the third quarter. That dated expectation does not establish that the transactions subsequently closed. [4]
Moving a troubled loan changes both the loss and the reported category
Transferring the selected loans to held for sale required a lower-of-cost-or-market measurement. The release attributes much of the quarter’s and provision increase to that transfer. It also reported that classified and special-mention loan ratios improved within the retained investment portfolio. Such improvement can arise partly because troubled assets leave the measured population; it does not necessarily mean their borrowers recovered. This distinction connects the accounting presentation to the economic cost of selling the exposure. [4]
The company’s nonperforming-asset table explicitly excludes loans held for sale. On that basis, nonperforming assets were $220.0 million, or 0.63% of assets, compared with $203.8 million in March. Nonaccrual loans increased to $203.7 million even after $248.0 million moved to held for sale, with new nonaccrual additions, charge-offs and repayments all affecting the movement. A single improving ratio cannot capture those different paths to resolution or the eventual proceeds from the pending sales. [4]
Capital leaves room to operate, while the earnings outcome remains unfinished
The July release provided separate preliminary capital ratios: the bank’s common-equity Tier 1 ratio was 12.68%, versus 9.25% at Banc of California, Inc. The bank’s Tier 1 leverage ratio was 9.64%, versus 8.89% at the parent. These regulatory measures use different capital and exposure definitions from book equity, and the bank and parent ratios cannot be interchanged. The release said the ratios exceeded applicable well-capitalized thresholds, while acknowledging the near-term capital effect of its repositioning. [4]
The franchise that emerged from 2023 has survived the deposit shock, combined two banking networks and repeatedly changed its balance sheet to improve funding and returns. The documented 2026 outcome is more mixed than a simple recovery narrative: deposit growth and new lending accompanied substantial securities and credit charges. The longer-run result depends on customer retention, realized loan-sale outcomes, remaining property-credit performance and the yield earned on redeployed funds. The June financial statements and July announcements establish the actions and their initial cost, not their eventual payoff. [4][5][8]
Sources
- FDIC bank financials, June 30, 2026; dollar fields reported in thousandsOfficial sourceBack to text: ↑1↑2
- FDIC institution index dated October 2, 2026; reviewed October 5Official sourceBack to text: ↑1↑2
- FDIC June 30, 2026 asset inventory; domestic insured charter classes selected for this seriesOfficial sourceBack to text: ↑
- Banc of California Q2 2026 results, credit tables and separate bank/parent capital ratios, July 29, 2026SourceBack to text: ↑1↑2↑3↑4↑5↑6↑7↑8↑9
- Banc of California announces PacWest merger close and $400 million capital raise, November 30, 2023SourceBack to text: ↑1↑2↑3↑4↑5
- SEC-filed joint merger proxy/prospectus dated October 23, 2023; company histories, transaction background and Annex MFiling / reportBack to text: ↑1↑2↑3↑4↑5↑6↑7↑8
- First PacTrust SEC-filed release, June 14, 2012; Pacific Trust Bank history and operating scopeFiling / reportBack to text: ↑
- Banc of California Q4 2023 results, January 25, 2024; reverse-merger presentation and completed repositioningSourceBack to text: ↑1↑2↑3
- Banc of California business-bank overview; reviewed October 5, 2026SourceBack to text: ↑1↑2
- Banc of California 2015 Form 10-K; parent recapitalization, renaming and legacy-bank consolidationFiling / reportBack to text: ↑