Right Place, Right Time

A little more than six months after opening Bank of Santa Clarita its officers were already thinking about expanding.

The bank has applied to issue a secondary stock offering to raise an additional $7 million, and, if approved, will release the offering this month, with the proceeds slated for expansion.

The new stock offering would come atop an initial $15 million or so the bankers raised to start Bank of Santa Clarita, which opened late in October.

And it comes as the bank’s assets have grown 75 percent to $39.1 million since the end of 2004, and deposits and loans have nearly tripled to $26.6 million and $24.3 million respectively in that same period.

The success of the startup may make it look easy to get a new bank launched, but James D. Hicken, Bank of Santa Clarita’s president and CEO, said the outward appearance is deceiving.

A number of factors have converged to help Bank of Santa Clarita’s early growth spurt, including the business and population growth in the city and surrounding area, the expertise of the company’s officers and board and, perhaps most of all, the bank’s position as the only community bank in the area.

Valencia Bank