The Sherman Oaks branch of National Bank of California has switched over to Commercial Bank of California following a merger between the two financial institutions, and clients of the regional business bank have seen changes in the location on Ventura Boulevard over the past few months. Chief Executive Ash Patel said the bank is showing a commitment to the Valley by having recently renewed its lease for another five years. “We made a conscious decision to stay there, and the north San Fernando Valley represents a good manufacturing and wholesale market that we would like to expand in,” Patel told the Business Journal. The merger is one local example of the national trend toward consolidation in the banking industry. There were 127 bank merger and acquisition deals nationally in the first six months of the year, according to iBanknet, an online provider of banking industry data collected from public records. Nine of those deals involved California banks. Other recent mergers involving banks with a Valley presence took place last year. OneWest Bank, with locations in Chatsworth, Northridge and Tarzana among others, was acquired by CIT Bank, which moved its headquarters to Pasadena; and in 2014, California United Bank combined with 1st Enterprise Bank and moved its headquarters from Encino to downtown Los Angeles. It has branches in Encino, Thousand Oaks and Valencia. Dennis Santiago, the Torrance-based managing director of research and development for Total Bank Solutions, in Hackensack, N.J., described the merger environment to be strong, as smaller banks try to reach $1 billion in assets. National Bank had been “aching” and the merger with Commercial Bank relieved its financial stress, Santiago said, adding that the deal was interesting because the smaller bank was in the better financial shape of the two. “It is a healthy organization,” he added, referring to Commercial Bank. Financial firepower Commercial Bank’s merger has allowed it to invest in personnel, technology and in finances in all its branches, Patel said. Its Sherman Oaks office puts it in the epicenter of manufacturing and wholesale distributors that Commercial Bank has as clients. Armida Stafford, the regional vice president of the Valley branch, said the office on Ventura Boulevard puts it in an area heavy with professionals, such as law and accounting firms, for which the bank can also provide service. “That is what differentiates us from other banks — having that customized product for that market,” Stafford said. With more financial firepower behind it, Commercial Bank has a lending limit of $22 million to provide to a given borrower as opposed to the $4 million limit of National Bank of California. That automatically opens up the number of businesses that are able to apply for loans, Patel said. “We could not bank middle-market companies that had borrowing needs of between $5 million and $7 million,” he added. “National Bank did not have the size and scale where CBC does.” The investment in technology includes a cash management system, online banking, mobile banking from portable devices and remote capture of checks by using a scanner. These services have all been revamped to give customers the most modern technology available, Patel said. Alternative lending Commercial Bank is a relatively small institution serving businesses in Los Angeles and Orange counties with loans, checking and savings accounts, payroll and credit and debit transaction processing. National Bank and Commercial Bank first announced their merger in October of last year and completed it in May. The deal created a regional bank with seven branches, including one that opened last month in Santa Monica to replace a Brentwood branch that will close. Assets of the combined institutions total more than $800 million and their loan portfolio is about $520 million. In addition to Sherman Oaks and Santa Monica, Commercial Bank has branches in Irvine, Brea, Costa Mesa and Los Angeles. The institution employs 139. The merger made Commercial Bank a subsidiary of NCAL Bancorp, whose shares are traded on the over-the-counter market. A new area Commercial Bank is getting into is partnering with alternative lending startups who put a software-driven twist to the business banking model. Other banks have taken this approach. Opus Bank, in Irvine, for example, early this year announced a marketing and referral agreement with OnDeck, a publicly traded online lender, to make loans of $500,000 or less available to small businesses. “There are smaller companies of our size and scale that we are evaluating right now to see which one would be the most suitable for us,” Patel said. With the merger complete, Patel said it is now time for Commercial Bank to stabilize. Its strategy is focused on organic growth through the six branches in Orange and Los Angeles counties. Organic growth for Commercial Bank may not come easy, however, according to Santiago, of Total Bank Solutions. For one, serving the manufacturing market is highly competitive and banks do all they can to keep their existing clients. Another is having the right business development people on staff who can create and maintain relationships with customers. “They try to hang on to the best people,” Santiago said. “That is the name of the game in this town.”