Pacific Western Bank Acquires Affinity Bank of Ventura, CA Through an FDIC-Assisted Transaction.

- All insured and uninsured depositors will be protected in transaction -

SAN DIEGO, Aug. 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- PacWest Bancorp today announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary Pacific Western Bank acquired Ventura, CA-based Affinity Bank in a transaction assisted by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).

Under the terms of the transaction, Pacific Western Bank will acquire most of the assets, including all loans, and assume the insured and uninsured deposits excluding certain brokered deposits. At June 30, 2009, the latest date for which information is publicly available, Affinity Bank had $1.2 billion in assets, $691 million in gross loans, $906 million in deposits, $50 million in brokered deposits, and $298 million in other liabilities. Affinity Bank operated 10 branches including 4 in Ventura County, 2 in Los Angeles County, 1 in Orange County, 2 in San Francisco County and 1 in San Mateo County.

Matt Wagner, CEO of PacWest Bancorp and chairman and CEO of Pacific Western Bank, commented, "We welcome Affinity Bank customers to the Pacific Western Bank family. We look forward to providing the strength and service for which Pacific Western is known and ensuring new customers from Affinity Bank have the best possible banking products and services at their disposal."

Affinity Bank branches located in San Francisco and San Mateo Counties will reopen on Saturday, August 29 as branches of Pacific Western Bank. All other bank branches previously operated by Affinity will reopen on Monday, August 31 as branches of Pacific Western Bank.

Customers of both banks should continue to use their existing branches until Pacific Western can fully integrate the Affinity Bank systems with Pacific Western Bank. After this transition period, customers from Affinity Bank will gain access to Pacific Western's 59 existing locations throughout Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego Counties.

Pacific Western will work with Affinity Bank's employees to identify potential job opportunities with Pacific Western Bank.