A bank created by business owners
George Borba came from the dairy business in Chino, California. In 1974, he joined his brother John Borba, Ron Kruse and other local businesspeople to form Chino Valley Bank. The company’s account of its founding describes a specific ambition: banking relationships tailored to small businesses and their owners in the greater Chino area. It was a bank built around the needs of the people organizing it, including businesses whose borrowing and cash balances did not fit neatly into a household-banking model. [3]
The bank opened on August 9, 1974. Its separate parent, CVB Financial Corp., began business in December 1981 when it acquired the bank’s voting stock in a reorganization. Chino Valley Bank became Citizens Business Bank in March 1996. The modern institution is headquartered in Ontario, California, and carries FDIC certificate 21716. It is distinct from other banks elsewhere in the country that also use the Citizens name. [1][4]
Borba remained chairman for 38 years, according to the company’s October 2012 announcement of his death. Founding director Ronald O. Kruse became acting chairman. The founders’ commercial background continued to matter to the bank’s identity long after it had grown beyond its first community, but growth increasingly depended on professional management and acquisitions as well as those original relationships. [3]
Acquisitions broaden the map, and leadership passes within the bank
A major expansion came on August 10, 2018, when Community Bank of Pasadena merged into Citizens Business Bank. Citizens survived as the operating bank. The transaction paid Community shareholders cash and CVB stock; the closing filing reported approximately $177.5 million of cash and approximately 30 million shares issued. That structure expanded the business while making the acquired bank’s shareholders part-owners of the combined parent. [5]
Christopher D. Myers, who had led the company since 2006, retired in March 2020. The board selected David A. Brager, then executive vice president and sales division manager, as the next chief executive effective March 16. The announcement said Brager had worked with Myers in executing the strategy, especially on the sales side. The succession kept leadership with an executive who already knew the bank’s customers, markets and expansion efforts. [6]
The legal framework changed before the next large acquisition. On December 15, 2025, the bank converted from a California state charter to a national banking association, taking the full name Citizens Business Bank, National Association. The FDIC’s current directory identifies the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency as its primary federal regulator. This was a change in charter and supervision, not the creation of an unrelated bank. [1][4]
The relationship extends from operating cash to the owner’s finances
The central customer is a small or medium-sized business, often alongside its owners. A relationship can connect a business checking account and payment services to working-capital borrowing, equipment finance or a loan on the building the company occupies. The bank’s agribusiness offerings include financing for dairies, cattle feeders, livestock raisers and farmers, an enduring connection to its founding community. [4]
Its services also include managing business cash flows, collecting electronic payments, moving money and handling international transactions. CitizensTrust, the bank’s wealth-management division, extends the relationship into investments, trusts and planning for owners and families. These activities explain why business deposits and fee services matter alongside lending: the same customer can use the bank to run a company and manage accumulated personal wealth. [4][9]
Heritage fills a geographic gap
On December 17, 2025, CVB Financial Corp. and Heritage Commerce Corp. announced a merger agreement valued at approximately $811 million using CVB’s share price the previous day. Heritage shareholders were to receive 0.6500 CVB shares for each share they held. The consideration was stock, so that headline value was tied to the quoted share price rather than a fixed cash payment. [7]
Brager described the Bay Area as an important expansion objective. Heritage Bank of Commerce brought a complementary business-banking franchise there, while its chief executive, Clay Jones, said the larger organization would broaden the products available to customers. Those were the companies’ stated reasons for the deal, not a guarantee that the promised growth or savings would follow. [7]
The transaction closed on April 17, 2026. Heritage Commerce Corp. merged into CVB Financial Corp.; Heritage Bank of Commerce merged into Citizens Business Bank. The closing announcement described the addition of 16 Bay Area branches. Brager continued as chief executive, and Jones joined as president of the combined organization. The separate bank and parent mergers brought Heritage’s customers into Citizens while keeping the CVB parent and Citizens Business Bank identities. [8]
Combining the banks changes both the business and the reported results
The July 22 earnings release said the systems conversion was completed in the second quarter. That quarter included 74 days of Heritage operations, so the enlarged company’s results were not a like-for-like comparison with earlier quarters. It recorded $31.4 million of acquisition expenses and a $4.25 million provision for unfunded loan commitments. The bank also sold a pool of single-family mortgages acquired from Heritage with a fair value of $327 million. Combining two banks involved costs and choices about which acquired assets to retain. [9]
The company reported that 52.8% of deposits were noninterest-bearing at quarter-end. Such accounts can lower funding expense because they do not pay a stated interest rate, but retaining them depends on useful services and continuing customer relationships. The figure helps explain the importance of business banking to this model; it does not mean the deposits are permanent or costless to service. [9]
What the insured bank looked like at June 30
The FDIC reports $21.183 billion of assets for Citizens Business Bank, National Association at June 30, 2026, with $16.413 billion of deposits, $11.890 billion of net loans and leases, and $3.109 billion of equity. Securities totaled $5.689 billion. Bank net income was $103.017 million for the first six months of 2026. These are the insured bank’s figures, converted from thousands of dollars, rather than CVB Financial Corp.’s consolidated earnings. [2]
Real-estate loans were $10.324 billion, about 85.9% of $12.017 billion of gross loans and leases. Commercial and industrial loans were $1.185 billion; agricultural-production loans were $281.033 million, with another $419.658 million of farmland-secured loans included within real estate. The broad property category is not the same thing as commercial real estate alone. It nonetheless shows that the bank’s business-customer focus includes substantial lending secured by buildings and land. [2]
The Heritage transaction gave Citizens a wider California footprint, but much of its lending and customer activity still connects to the same state economy. The story that began with local business owners now turns on whether a much larger bank can preserve those customer relationships while managing property exposure and the practical consequences of combining institutions. That is a continuing business question, not an outcome established by the completion of the merger. [2][8][9]
Sources
- FDIC institution directory, October 2, 2026 index; reviewed October 5Official sourceBack to text: ↑1↑2
- FDIC June 30, 2026 bank financials; dollar fields in thousands; income year to dateOfficial sourceBack to text: ↑1↑2↑3
- CVB Financial Corp. remembers founding chairman George Borba, October 23, 2012SourceBack to text: ↑1↑2
- CVB Financial Corp. 2025 Form 10-K, filed February 27, 2026: origins, charter conversion and business modelFiling / reportBack to text: ↑1↑2↑3↑4
- CVB Financial Corp. Form 8-K: Community Bank merger completed August 10, 2018Filing / reportBack to text: ↑
- CVB Financial Corp. CEO succession announcement, February 19, 2020Filing / reportBack to text: ↑
- CVB Financial Corp. and Heritage Commerce Corp announce merger agreement, December 17, 2025SourceBack to text: ↑1↑2
- CVB Financial Corp. completes Heritage merger, April 17, 2026SourceBack to text: ↑1↑2
- CVB Financial Corp. second-quarter 2026 results, July 22, 2026SourceBack to text: ↑1↑2↑3↑4