A Message From Ash Patel About Stability Amid Current Banking Industry Uncertainties

Dear Clients and Partners,

For the last 20 years, we have helped thousands of entrepreneurs grow their businesses and achieve their dreams with a purpose-driven approach to banking. You are our purpose, our community is our purpose, and our team is our purpose. Those three things are our driving force for how we operate this bank and persevere amid current uncertainties in the banking industry.

That’s why we’ve set the standard for a higher vision for what banking can be. We are unlike any other bank, and that starts with our private status. We are committed to being a purposeful partner to you, and that allows us to make more sound financial decisions that create stability and longevity for us all. When we say partner, we mean a collaborator with whom we can be transparent with our business because we know that it impacts your business too.

Here are some reminders about our innate identity as a business, and the stability and predictability that comes with it. Everything we do is filtered through the lens of a private bank who puts our clients’ needs at the forefront of our decision making. This means:

• As a private bank, we don’t have investor pressures like most banks have. Being private allows us the flexibility to make decisions in the best interest of our clients, our team, and the market dynamics.
• As a private bank, we are shielded from the exposure of the less predictable public markets and purposefully closely manage our own investment risk to protect the bank, the local community, our team, and our clients. We can achieve this because our investment portfolio is well diversified with a focus on steady cash flow generation and a low-to-moderate exposure to interest rate risks.
• We have a vastly diversified client base from both a deposits and a lending standpoint. Our clients are rooted in time-tested industries that are less impacted by short-term market volatility, and each of our clients is thriving in the strong, business-friendly environment in which we all operate.
• We have a Board of Directors comprised of people who are deeply rooted in the local business community and who greatly impact the Southern California local economy. Because of this, they are dedicated to making sure the bank also makes a positive impact in the community.

With the recent closures of Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and Silvergate Bank in March 2023, and the news of First Republic Bank being placed under receivership of the FDIC on Monday, May 1, 2023, we are prepared to provide you with a platform to hear CBC’s operational approach, share exactly what happened with those banks, and let you ask us the hard questions so you can feel more confident in knowing that CBC is stable, healthy and not at risk of being closed or sold.

Please click here to save the details for our upcoming client townhall on Thursday, May 4, 2023 at 9:30am. On this townhall, you will hear directly from me, Ash Patel, CEO & President, and Christopher Colella, EVP & Chief Credit Officer.  

CBC has continuously served our clients and communities through changing economic conditions and financial environments, and we are prepared to offer strength and security as we continue to grow and evolve together for decades to come.

And if you have any specific questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to your CBC banker or me directly at apatel@cbcal.com or (714) 875-6907.

Talk soon,

Ash Patel
Chairman, CEO & President of Commercial Bank of California