PacTrust Bank to Sell 4 Local Branches

First PacTrust Bancorp., Inc., which owns Pacific Trust Bank, has agreed to sell four San Diego County branches to AmericanWest Bank to improve "overall efficiency and profitability," the company announced this week.

The La Jolla branch at 7877 Ivanhoe Ave. is not on the sale list, but its success as a "target market" fueled the transaction, the company said.

"PacTrust Bank’s recent success attracting high quality core deposits in our target markets such as Beverly Hills, Newport Beach and La Jolla has provided us the excess liquidity necessary to prudently execute this transaction," Steven Sugarman, CEO of First PacTrust Bancorp, said in the announcement.

Two branches in Chula Vista, one in El Cajon and another in Clairemont will be sold, plus another four in Los Angeles and Riverside counties. The eight branches had deposits worth nearly half-a-billion dollars at the end of March, the announcement stated. The deposits, a blended deposit premium of 2.3 percent, real estate and other assets are part of the sale, which is expected to be finalized by the fourth quarter.

The sale will give AmericanWest Bank 20 locations in Southern California, including a branch on Eastgate Mall near UTC.