Convergent Wealth Advisors, acquired last year by Beverly Hills-based City National Corp., has opened a Los Angeles office to take advantage of the burgeoning local market.

Duncan Rolph, a Convergent managing director who joined the wealth management firm in July, said wealth in Los Angeles, unlike more established markets, is primarily new money made in the entertainment and real estate industries, as well as by middle-market entrepreneurs.

For that reason, the local wealth management industry has lagged behind many other markets and left open expansion opportunities for firms like Convergent.

“The Los Angeles market has really been underserved, particularly in the wealth management space,” said Rolph. “The majority of the high net worth community in Los Angeles typically has its money with the large brokerage houses or investment banks.”

But many newly wealthy individuals have begun turning away from large institutions amid struggles in the financial services market, he said, opting instead for small firms that can offer more personalized service.

Located at 2000 Avenue of the Stars in Century City, the local office is the firm’s eighth branch office. The Los Angeles office currently has 11 employees, but managing director Don Berghoff said they expect to add to that number soon.

Convergent, which primarily serves individuals and families with more than $10 million, advises roughly $9 billion in assets.

Separately, City National recently announced plans to open a Manhattan Beach bank branch in September.

Investment Suit

A former employee of PFF Bancorp Inc. filed a lawsuit last week against the beleaguered bank over its allegedly imprudent investing of employee funds. The suit seeks to get class-action status.

Pauline Perez, who worked for the Rancho Cucamonga-based bank for five years before leaving in 2007, is seeking to recover “millions of dollars in losses” incurred by her and other employees who participated in the company’s 401(k) program and employee stock ownership plan, according to the filing in Los Angeles federal court.

Perez alleges the company used employee funds to purchase shares of PFF stock even though executives knew the company’s financial capacity was deteriorating.

“(The company) continued to invest in PFF stock until PFF became effectively insolvent when auditors were preparing a potential ‘going concern’ opinion,” according to the lawsuit, which has yet to be certified for class action.

PFF, which has $4.4 billion in assets, has seen its stock price drop by 96 percent over the past year as it has struggled due to bad loans made to builders and residential land developers.

The struggles evaporated the company’s market cap and led it to accept a $31 million buyout offer in June from Oak Park, Ill.-based FBOP Corp. The deal is expected to close next month.

PFF operates 38 PFF Bank & Trust branches across Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside and Orange counties.

Business Bank

SoCal Business Bank N.A. announced recently that it has won preliminary approval from federal regulators to open later this year. Headquartered in Van Nuys, the bank will cater to businesses throughout the San Fernando Valley.

Two dozen banking executives have been assembling the institution for the past 18 months and the bank began its initial public offering June 20. The company, which is selling stock for $10 per share, said it hopes to raise roughly $20 million by the end of September.

Executives said they won approval July 28 from the Comptroller of the Currency to establish the bank. It also won approval from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which insures individual deposits up to $100,000.

The chief executive is Charles Fenton, who has more than 30 years banking experience in the L.A. area, according to a SoCal press release.

Job Cuts

Saehan Bancorp, the Los Angeles-based holding company for Saehan Bank, said rising loan loss provisions forced it to trim its workforce by 10 percent in July.

The ethnic Korean bank, which operates seven retail branches in Southern California, said it lost $1.6 million in the second quarter, while its loan loss provision increased to $4.9 million.

Saehan, founded in 1991, has $889 million in assets.

Heightened Security

Wescom Resources Group and TraceSecurity Inc. announced a partnership last week to develop online banking security tools for credit unions.

Wescom, owned by Pasadena-based Wescom Credit Union, one of the country’s largest credit unions, said the technology will help guard against identity theft in Internet banking.

TraceSecurity, based in Baton Rouge, La., will simulate malicious attacks in order to help expose weaknesses in the technology.

Staff reporter Richard Clough can be reached at [email protected] or at (323) 549-5225, ext. 251.