As as a result of the purchase of Santa Barbara Bank and Trust last year Union Bank will close some 16 branches on the California coast from Beverly Hills to the Bay Area.
On December 29,2012 the San Francisco-based bank filed notices of closures with the Department of Treasury on the Central Coast at 1140 Morro Street in San Luis Obispo, 335 E Betteravia Rd in Santa Maria,,200 N “H” St in Lompoc, and 1714 Mission Dr in Solvang – all towns with duplicative Santa Barbara Bank and Trust locations. The bank has indicated the closures would take place by April.
All notices are listed on the US Treasury website,Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
UnionBanCal Corporation (“UNBC”) and its primary subsidiary, Union Bank, N.A. (“Union Bank”), announced in Deecmber that it has completed its $1.5 billion purchase of Pacific Capital Bancorp (“PCBC”), a bank holding company headquartered in Santa Barbara, California. As part of the transaction, Santa Barbara Bank & Trust, N.A. will be merged with and into Union Bank on December 3, 2012, with Union Bank continuing as the surviving entity. The merger received final regulatory approval on November 14, 2012.
Through the transaction, Union Bank acquires $3.7 billion in loans held for investment and $4.7 billion in deposits, as of September 30, 2012.
The Union Bank purchase of Santa Barbara Bank & Trust branches on the Central Coast will result in the layoff of 468 employees,most of them by April, said bank spokesman Dan Weidman. Here is the bank’s statement.
“Union Bank will retain 570 Santa Barbara Bank & Trust employees, including most customer-facing positions across the bank. 468 positions will be eliminated over the course of the next twelve months. 80 percent of those whose positions have been eliminated will not depart the bank until at least April 30, 2013. Union Bank currently has 175 open positions from Los Angeles to San Jose for which impacted employees can apply.”
That would leave about 300 without a job even if they can fill an open position that may be a hundred miles or more from where they live now.
Santa Barbara Bank and Trust had 46 locations from Gilroy south to Beverley Hills. Union Bank has some duplicate locations with Santa Barbara Bank & Trust including San Luis Obispo and Santa Maria in our reading area.
Union Bank is slated to brand all the SBB&T locations as Union Bank.
Using the company figure of 468 position layoffs and 16 branch closures the numbers average around 30 people per branch who will lose their jobs.