Bank’s Name Change Brings Boston to the Valley

A name change for an Encino bank gives a well-known East Coast banking and wealth management firm a bigger presence in Southern California. First Private Bank& Trust took on the moniker Boston Private Bank & Trust at the end of May. The move is the latest by a bank that has transitioned in recent years from a purely commercial institution to one serving high-net-worth individuals, entrepreneurs, small businesses, and nonprofits. Boston Private’s CEO Charlie Jackson has no concerns that clients will be turned off by the prominence of an East Coast city in the name, as the bank sees itself as part of a coast-to-coast provider. “We are not a community bank,” Jackson said. “We are not competing against the community banks. We are a national banking and wealth management organization.” Boston Private’s parent, Boston Private Financial Holdings Inc., also operates banks in Boston, the San Francisco/Silicon Valley region and the Seattle area. The Boston area, however, is a slow growth market with weak demographics, so it is not unrealistic the holding company expanded elsewhere in the country, said Casey Haire, an analyst who follows Boston Private Financial for Jefferies & Co. After hitting a rough patch with bad construction loans in Florida and Southern California that were later sold, Boston Private has stopped its losses except for in Northern California, Haire said. “They have lingering issues, but the worst is behind them now,” Haire said. The combined banks have assets of $6 billion and over $3.5 billion in managed assets. In the first quarter ending March 31, the Los Angeles area bank made $414.8 million in loans, a 5 percent increase from the same period in 2010. The cost to change signage, business cards and letterheads is expected to be minimal, Jackson said. “We are $200 million in revenues, so this is not something that will pop up on the radar screen,” Jackson said. The signs at the Encino branch plus smaller ones in Granada Hills, Westlake Village, Burbank and Santa Monica were changed over the Memorial Day weekend. The bank’s clients were notified of the name switch in a letter sent out prior to it taking affect on May 27, Jackson said. Since being acquired by Boston Private Financial Holdings in 2004, the bank’s customers have always been made aware of the role of the parent company, Jackson said. At the same time the name change took effect, the four Boston Private Financial banks consolidated their operations to offer all the same services at all branches. Previously, the four banks operated independently of one another, a method that was not effective from either a cost or banking point of view, Jackson said. “It was an inconsistent approach to the marketplace,” Jackson said.