Beneficial State Bank Announces the Completion of Its Merger With Pan American Bank
Oakland, CA (PRWEB) June 20, 2016 -- Beneficial State Bank (“Beneficial State”) today announced the completion of its merger with Pan American Bank (“Pan Am”) effective as of the close of business on June 17, 2016. The combined entity is now operating as Beneficial State Bank.
Kat Taylor, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Beneficial State, stated, "This partnership brings us significantly closer to changing the banking system for good by extending beneficial banking services that are fair, transparent and relevant to customers throughout California, Oregon and Washington. Banking, which belongs to all of us, should provide benefit to all and harm to none and that's what we try to do every single day."
Tom Steyer, Co-Founder and Chairman added, “Kat and I founded Beneficial State Bank to fix a broken system that denies far too many Californians basic access to fair banking and financial services. This merger builds on our commitment to economic justice and opportunity, and it allows us to reach more communities throughout California."
On a pro forma consolidated basis, the combined entity will have assets of approximately $630 million and deposits of approximately $490 million. The combined 12-branch network will serve the California communities of Oakland, Santa Rosa, Sacramento, Los Angeles, Bakersfield, Fresno, Porterville, Visalia, Modesto and additionally Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington. Dan Skaff, Co-CEO, added, “Our goal is to balance organic growth and mission-aligned mergers in order to be resilient under modern bank economics while we serve our communities more deeply. The merger with Pan Am is an important step in fulfilling our five year goal of becoming a $3-5 billion bank serving local communities, providing growth opportunities for our colleagues, and delivering on our social and environmental impact goals.”
Robert Hughes, former CEO of Pan Am, will be a Director at Beneficial State and President of a new consumer banking unit upon completion of the merger. Mr. Hughes commented, "We are so happy to be joining our nearly 100 year history of service to our communities in the Central Valley and Los Angeles areas of California with the leading, forward thinking mission-based bank in California. Combined, we have both the history and the resources to greatly expand our beneficial banking throughout the combined West Coast territory.”
Pan Am’s senior management team and all employees will join the Beneficial State team. The headquarters of the combined company will remain in Oakland. To celebrate the merger, Beneficial State will host family-friendly neighborhood block parties in each of the newly acquired branches in the Central Valley and Los Angeles this summer to empower people to better banking.
About Pan American Bank
Pan American Bank, which in August 2015 merged with Finance and Thrift Company, has a long history of serving under-represented and under-served consumers and small businesses. Pan American Bank, co-founded by Romana Acosta Banuelos, the first Latina Treasurer of the United States, was established in 1964. Finance and Thrift, founded by a group of ranchers and farmers to make small loans to their workers, was established in 1925. Pan American is focused on transforming and empowering the community and is nationally recognized as a leading community bank, based on its advocacy-based style of banking. The Bank maintains a fully-bilingual staff (English/Spanish) ready to meet the needs of its customers and is active in the communities it serves through financial literacy education programs to local elementary, middle and high schools, as well as through non-profits and faith-based organizations.
About Beneficial State Bank
Beneficial State Bank is a social enterprise bank founded in 2007 with a triple bottom-line focus of social justice, environmental resilience and economic sustainability. Beneficial State is a state-chartered, federally regulated, for profit banking organization whose economic interest is owned entirely by a non-profit foundation of the same name. Beneficial State is mandated to produce meaningful social justice and environmental benefits in an economically sustainable manner. In December 2010, it acquired ShoreBank Pacific. The merger greatly expanded the Bank’s reach on the West Coast, and enhanced its capacity to serve its mission. ShoreBank Pacific, a pioneer of environmentally sustainable banking, serves both Washington and Oregon. The joint forces produced an enlarged footprint covering a bio-regional territory some call the Salmon Nation and united the synergies of social justice and ecological banking. A few years later in October 2013, Beneficial State Bancorp completed a stock purchase transaction of 90% of Albina Community Bank, bringing a Portland-based community bank that has been investing in individuals, families, businesses, and local neighborhoods over 20 years into their family.
Beneficial State, a community development financial institution, has been a certified B Corporation since 2013, and has been honored as “Best for the World,”a designation reserved for the top 10% of all B Corps based on environmental, community and worker impact. Overall, Beneficial State is the #3 B Corp worldwide on the B Corp impact assessment.
For additional information, please visit http://www.beneficialstate.com.
Andrea Walker, Beneficial State Bank, http://www.beneficialstate.com, +1 510-846-1119, [email protected]
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