By Clyde Noel

Beginning Sept. 16, United California Bank at 176 Main St. will become Bank of the West. The present Bank of the West location at 240 Third St. will be vacated.

UCB will become fully integrated into the Bank of the West system as all conversion of operations and banking systems will be completed.

BancWest Corp, doing business as Bank of the West, acquired UCB in a $2.4 billion cash deal April 1, making it California’s fourth largest bank, with $25 billion in assets.

As the merger takes place the parent company is consolidating its duplicate administrative functions and closing branches where markets have overlapping service.

“For the last four months we have been making changes to bring Bank of the West into this building,” said Joanne Kavalaris, vice president and bank manager. “All their safe deposit boxes will be moved and consolidated. No one will lose his or her job. They will report to this building as it becomes Bank of the West.”

The vault in the present Bank of the West is large and has considerable local interest because of its size. It will remain with the building at 240 Third St.

“Mergers create market opportunities, and this is an opportunity for new businesses,” Kavalaris said. “Our customers will have more branches to work with and more ATMs to choose from in the western states, including Hawaii.”

UCB had assets of $11 billion and 117 branches in California. Bank of the West has $25 billion in assets and 300 branches that will serve 1.5 million customers in California and the West.

Kavalaris said that after working with Sanwa and UCB banks she can forget worrying about the yen, but now she has to become acquainted with the franc. Paris-based BNB Paribas, one of the world’s largest banks, is now Bank of the West’s parent company.

As a result of bank mergers and acquisitions, Kavalaris has worked at the same location for 18 years.

In 1981, the bank was called UCB. It changed its name to 1st Interstate Bank during the 1990s. Sanwa Bank took over the location in a merger in 1997 and then changed the name back to UCB in 2001. On Sept. 16 it will become Bank of the West.

Kavalaris said present customers will receive new account numbers but can continue to use current checks until their supply runs low.

For more information, call 948-4468 or logon to www.bankofthewest.com.