WEST LINN, Ore., Nov. 7, 2018 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Pacific West Bank (OTCBB: PWBO) announced today that longtime Pacific Northwest native and banker Terry A. Peterson has joined Pacific West Bank as the Chief Executive Officer. Current President/CEO Robert Seibert will remain with the Bank as President.
Most recently, Peterson spent five years as President and CEO and Director of California Bancorp and California Bank of Commerce, a San Francisco Bay area business bank. Prior, he was a founder, President, and Director of Charter Financial Corp. and Charter Bank (Bellevue, WA.)
"Terry is an accomplished leader with a long history of building successful banking companies with a focus on business banking," said Steve Gray, Chairman of the Board. "During his five years in California the bank tripled in size to nearly one billion in total assets and share price increased during this period by one hundred fifty percent. His success with Charter Bank was similar," continued Gray.
"In the greater Portland area, the continued consolidation within the banking industry has nearly eliminated all locally-headquartered, business-focused community banks," said Peterson. "We intend to change that. The Portland area business community deserves and is demanding a local business banking alternative," he continued.
Over the past several years, local community business banks who recently sold to out-of-state regional banks include Premier Community Bank, Pacific Continental Bank and Capital Pacific Bank.
"In the coming months we will announce the opening of our downtown Portland office location," said Chairman Gray. "The addition of Portland to our existing West Linn and Lake Oswego offices reflects the Boards commitment to invest in the growth of both the Bank and the communities that we serve. To deliver on that commitment, we have very recently expanded our existing team to include seven local bankers who bring with them the local market experience to drive our growth strategy."
"Serving the community is all about providing local banking decisions with highly qualified local bankers. One hundred percent of the existing Pacific West Bank executives and teammates will be retained to help grow the Bank, "said Peterson. "Although we have already added seven new bankers to our team, we look forward to inviting more local bankers to join us," he continued.
"We are in process of assessing our capital strategies to drive our intended growth," said Chairman Gray. "The greater Portland area deserves a local business banking alternative to the big box and out of state regional banks. We look forward to Pacific West Bank becoming that alternative."
About Pacific West Bank:
Pacific West Bank, a community bank, is headquartered in West Linn, Oregon, with a second branch in Lake Oswego, Oregon. Pacific West Bank provides not only highly personalized deposit and loan services to individuals and small-to-medium sized businesses but also financial and volunteer support to a variety of community, civic and charitable organizations. For more information about Pacific West Bank, please call 503-905-2222 or visit http://www.bankpacificwest.com. Information about the Bank's stock may be obtained through the OTC Markets at http://www.otcmarkets.com. Pacific West Bank's stock symbol is PWBO.
Forward-looking Statements:
Certain statements in this release may be deemed to be "forward-looking statements." Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about our beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current plans, estimates and projections, and therefore you should not place undue reliance on them. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and we undertake no obligation to update publicly any of them in light of new information or future events. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. We caution you that a number of important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement.
SOURCE Pacific West Bank
