City National Bank (California)

City National footprint (New York City in the upper right hand corner)

City National Bank is an American financial institution headquartered in Los Angeles, California, owned by City National Corporation (NYSE: CYN), with total assets of $21.8 billion (as of September 30, 2010). As of 2011, it is the 25th largest bank in USA. It was founded in 1954.

Media reports have claimed the bank is nicknamed "Bank to the stars" due to its connection with Los Angeles.^[1]

City National offers a full complement of banking, trust and investment services through 76 offices, including 17 full-service regional centers, in Southern California, the San Francisco Bay Area, Nevada and New York City. After the closure or merger of many Los Angeles banks, it has become the largest bank headquartered in the Greater Los Angeles Area. It also acts as a processing bank, providing back office services such as checking account processing and check clearance services for smaller local banks that do not do their own processing.

City National Bank is a national bank, regulated by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Department of the Treasury. City National Bank should not be confused with the former Cleveland-based National City Bank, or First National City Bank, the former name of Citibank.

History

• Founded by a small group of Beverly Hills entrepreneurs in 1954 (one being Irving Klein).
• Expanded to Northern California in 2000 with the purchase of The Pacific Bank, followed by the acquisition of Oakland-based Civic BanCorp in 2002.
• Opened an office in New York City in 2002 to serve California clients who do business on both coasts and prospective clients in Manhattan.
• Ranked among America's top companies by sales, profits, assets and market value in Forbes magazine's "Super 500" list (2002 and 2003).
• Recognized by Barron's as one of America's top wealth managers five years in a row (2001 - 2005).
• Has an established relationship with many entertainment industry clients. Deals with many exclusive and premier clients from various media: television, film, theater, arts.

In mid-2011, the bank opened a branch in Nashville, Tennessee to maintain "position as the premier bank to America’s entertainment industry.” ^[2]

Acquisitions

• Sun West Bank (2010)
• 1st Pacific Bank (2010)
• Imperial Capital Bank (2009)
• Lee Munder Capital Group (2009)
• Convergent Wealth Advisors (2007)
• Business Bank of Nevada (2006)
• Convergent Capital Management, LLC (2003)
• Civic BanCorp (2001)
• People's Bank of California (2001)
• Reed, Conner & Birdwell (2001)
• The Pacific Bank (2000)
• American Pacific State Bank (1999)
• North American Trust Company (1998)
• Harbor Bank (1998)
• Riverside National Bank (1997)
• Frontier Bank (1997)
• Ventura County National Bank (1997)
• First Los Angeles Bank (1995)

Trivia

• In 1963, when Frank Sinatra's son was kidnapped, the bank put up the $240,000 in ransom money. A movie called Stealing Sinatra was made about the incident.

1. ^ City National Bank goes a little bit country, Los Angeles TImes, 9 June 2011
2. ^ City National Bank goes a little bit country, Los Angeles TImes, 9 June 2011

External links

• City National Bank