First Citizens BancShares Inc., the Raleigh, North Carolina-based bank that won the bid for Silicon Valley Bank’s business earlier this year, is now looking to gain the confidence of prospective wealth-management clients in Los Angeles.

First Citizens launched its wealth-advisory business in Southern California this month, led by regional executive Art Saldivar, who oversees 10 financial professionals. The team will work primarily out of the bank’s Pasadena and Beverly Hills offices and has outposts in Mission Viejo and Newport Beach.

While the bank’s private wealth’s presence here is new, First Citizens’ business banking has been in Los Angeles for 22 years. Saldivar was tapped nine months ago to partner with the business side and capitalize on what he describes as the “mass affluent” wealth-advisory needs.

“It’s quite evident that a lot of our competition has gotten away from the mass affluent, that $100,000 entry point,” Saldivar said. 

As a middle-market town, Los Angeles primarily houses entrepreneurs and small-business owners in this target wealth bracket. First Citizens said it hopes to attract the clientele slowly building net worth here.

First Citizens’ assumption of $110 billion of assets from SVB more than doubled its balance sheet. With the acquisition came SVB Private, the folded bank’s wealth- and investment-services arm. Saldivar was brought in just months before the acquisition, tasked with convincing a shaken clientele their money could be trusted in his new practice. The family-owned bank has a storied history of capitalizing as competitors falter amid industry upheaval. It has acquired more than 20 bank since 2008, including Los Angeles-based First Regional Bancorp in 2009.