Regulators Ease Oversight of Pacific Commerce Bank

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Pacific Commerce Bank on Tuesday announced that it had been released from its final set of regulatory restrictions.

The Little Tokyo bank holding company said that federal regulators on Aug. 28 ended a written agreement with the bank that had been in place since September 2011. That agreement was with the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. The California Department of Business Oversight, the state’s banking regulator, lifted its restrictions in July.

Pacific Commerce Bank, which was hurt by loan losses during the credit crisis and recession, had been ordered to increase its oversight of credit quality and lending standards, as well as beef up its management team.

The Fed’s action “sets us on the path towards implementation of our strategic plan of growth by acquisition coupled with organic growth in the markets we serve throughout Southern California,” Chief Executive Scott R. Andrews said in a statement.

Pacific Commerce, which has $163 million in assets, now has branches downtown and in West Los Angeles. It also plans to open a branch in San Diego. Andrews became chief executive in June 2012 after the bank had been run by a committee for more than a year following the departure of its previous CEO.

Shares closed unchanged at $5 in Tuesday trading on the Over-the-Counter Markets.

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