Bank of Los Altos to change name and close residential lending department
 joe hu/town crier Bank of Los Altos is scheduled to change its name in upcoming weeks as part of parent-company Heritage Commerce Corporation’s plan to integrate its four branch subsidiaries. Bank of Los Altos was founded in 1995. |
Bank of Los Altos, the small community bank founded on the premise that a company should know every customer’s name, will become Heritage Bank of Commerce in upcoming weeks, according to an announcement from parent
company Heritage Commerce
Corporation.
The name change is part of a plan to integrate the corporation’s four bank divisions into a single unified company and establish Heritage as “the premier business bank,” company president John McGrath said last week. The company expects to save approximately $300,000 per quarter under the new structuring.
Parts of this streamlining includes closing the residential lending department at Bank of Los Altos and laying off 12 senior employees from Heritage Bank of Commerce, Heritage Bank East Bay, Heritage Bank South Valley and Bank of Los Altos. Ranson W. Webster joined the company’s Board of Directors
June 14.
Heritage has been operating its bank holdings as separate divisions serving distinct communities since 1998.
“Our operating model of separate divisions …helped us grow to $1 billion in assets and was effective in establishing a strong branch franchise. This structure, however, carries substantial costs with diminishing returns,” said William Del Biaggio, chairman and interim CEO.
Bank of Los Altos, founded as a full-service community bank by a group of local investors in 1995, became a subsidiary of Heritage in 2000.
Part of the merger included retaining two board members from Bank of Los Altos.
Heritage will continue working with all pending residential mortgage transactions from Bank of Los Altos, a spokesman said.
Heritage bank of Commerce is headquartered in San Jose
with offices in Los Altos,
Fremont, Danville, Morgan
Hill, Gilroy and Mountain
View.
