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Who says you can’t go home again?
Jim Kelley, pushed out the door several years ago as CEO of Discovery Bancorp, was recently hired as regional vice president at CommerceWest Bank, the Irvine-based lender that officially acquired Discovery for $9.1 million last month.
“Obviously a lot of the clients know him, and we think he’ll be a great addition to our staff,” said Ivo Tjan, CommerceWest’s chief executive officer.
Kelley, who recently worked at First Business Bank, helped launch Discovery in 2001. He abruptly resigned in December after a big increase in Discovery’s problem loans led to the bank getting a regulatory order to increase capital levels.
The bank lost $5.4 million in 2008 because of the additional reserves it had to put aside for all its problem loans.
In other changes, Tjan said Discovery’s former executive team, including former CEO Frank Mercardante, were relieved of their positions on July 24.
The bank plans to maintain Discovery’s three offices for the time being while it merges operations.
The bank’s customer base features small and medium businesses with revenue from $1 million to $100 million.
The Discovery acquisition was the first for CommerceWest, which was founded in 2001, and has an abundance of capital (total risk-based of more than 22 percent) to bolster the balance sheet in this down economy, Tjan said.
Counting Discovery’s assets, Com
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