1 ------ UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION ------------------------------ FORM 4 WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549 OMB APPROVAL ------ ------------------------------ STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP OMB Number: 3235-0287 [ ] Check this box if no Expires: December 31, 2001 longer subject to Filed pursuant to Section 16(a) of the Securities Estimated average burden Section 16. Form 4 Exchange Act of 1934, Section 17(a) of the Hours per response........ 0.5 or Form 5 obligations Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 ------------------------------ may continue. See or Section 30(f) of the Investment Company Instruction 1(b). Act of 1940 (Print or Type Responses) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. Name and Address of Reporting Person* 2. Issuer Name AND Ticker or Trading Symbol 6. Relationship of Reporting Person(s) CYPRES GARY M. Banner Central Finance Company (BCFN) to Issuer (Check all applicable) -------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------- X Director X 10% Owner (Last) (First) (Middle) 3. IRS Identification 4. Statement for ---- --- 5480 East Ferguson Drive Number of Reporting Month/Year X Officer Other (specify -------------------------------------------- Person, if an March, 2001 ---- (give --- below) (Street) entity (Voluntary) title below) Commerce, CA 90022 ------------------- -------------------------------------------- Chairman of the Board, (City) (State) (Zip) 5. If Amendment, Chief Executive Officer, Date of Original Chief Financial Officer, Secretary (Month/Year) ----------------------------------- 7. Individual or Joint/Group Filing ------------------- (Check Applicable Line) X Form filed by One ---- Reporting Person Form filed by More Than ---- One Reporting Person ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ TABLE I -- NON-DERIVATIVE SECURITIES ACQUIRED, DISPOSED OF, OR BENEFICIALLY OWNED ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. Title of Security 2. Trans- 3. Trans- 4. Securities Acquired (A) 5. Amount of 6. Ownership 7. Nature of (Instr. 3) action action or Disposed of (D) Securities Form: Indirect Date Code (Instr. 3, 4 and 5) Beneficially Direct Beneficial (Instr. 8) Owned at (D) or Ownership (Month/ End of Month Indirect (Instr. 4) Day/ --------------------------------------- (Instr. 3 and 4) (I) Year) Code V Amount (A) or Price (Instr. 4) (D) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Common Stock 3/23/01 J(1) 2,836,547 D (1) 828,500 I (1) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Common Stock 77,500 D ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Common Stock 12,500 I By wife ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Common Stock 12,500 I In trust for children by Mr. Cypres and wife ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Common Stock 1,104,933 I Owned by WFC Holdings Corporation, for which Mr. Cypres may exercise voting power ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Common Stock 380,020 I Owned by GIC Special Investments PTE LTD, for which Mr. Cypres may exercise voting power ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Reminder: Report on a separate line for each class of securities beneficially owned directly or indirectly. (Over) *If the form is filed by more than one reporting person, see Instruction 4(b)(v). SEC 1474 (3-99) 2 FORM 4 (CONTINUED) TABLE II -- DERIVATIVE SECURITIES ACQUIRED, DISPOSED OF, OR BENEFICIALLY OWNED (E.G., PUTS, CALLS, WARRANTS, OPTIONS, CONVERTIBLE SECURITIES) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. Title of Derivative 2. Conver- 3. Trans- 4. Trans- 5. Number of 6. Date Exer- 7. Title and Amount 8. Price Security sion or action action Derivative cisable and of Underlying of (Instr. 3) Exercise Date Code Securities Expiration Securities Derivative Price of (Month/ (Instr. Acquired (A) Date (Instr. 3 and 4) Security Deriv- Day/ 8) or Disposed (Month/Day/ (Instr. 5) ative Year) of (D) (Instr. Year) Security 3, 4, and 5) ----------------------------------- Date Expira- Amount or -------------------------- Exer- tion Title Number of Code V (A) (D) cisable Date Shares ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Stock Option (right Common 395,000 to buy) Stock ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 9. Number of 10. Ownership 11. Nature of Derivative Form of Indirect Securities Derivative Beneficial Beneficially Security: Ownership Owned at End Direct (D) (Instr. 4) of Month or Indirect (I) (Instr. 4) (Instr. 4) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 395,000 D -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Explanation of Responses: Note (1) -- Prior to March 23, 2001, West Coast Private Equity Partners, L.P. ("WCPEP") had beneficial ownership interest in 3,665,047 shares of issuer's common stock, for which reporting person was deemed to have beneficial ownership through its ability to control the voting of such shares by WCPEP. As of March 23, 2001, WCPEP terminated in accordance with the terms of its governing partnership agreement and distributed its assets to each of WCPEP's partners (the "Distribution"). Reporting person is the sole stockholder of G.M. Cypres & Co., Inc., which is the general partner of (i) Cypres Investments Holdings, L.P. ("CIH") and (ii) G.M. Cypres Investment, L.P. ("GMCI"), both of which were partners of WCPEP. CIH received 723,182 shares of issuer's common stock as a result of the Distribution and GMCI received 105,318 shares of issuer's common stock as a result of the Distribution. Thus, Mr. Cypres is deemed to indirectly beneficially own these 828,500 shares. ***Intentional misstatements or omissions of facts constitute Federal Criminal /s/ GARY M. CYPRES April 10, 2001 Violations. See 18 U.S.C. 1001 and 15 U.S.C. 78ff(a). ------------------------------- -------------- **Signature of Reporting Person Date Note: File three copies of this Form, one of which must be manually signed. If space is insufficient, see Instruction 6 for procedure. Potential persons who are to respond to the collection of information contained in this form are not required to respond unless the form displays a currently valid OMB Number. Page 2