Bank of the West

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Bank of the West is the third-largest commercial bank headquartered in the western United States.

The BancWest Corporation is the holding company of both Bank of the West in the Western United States, and First Hawaiian Bank in Hawaii, Guam, and Saipan. The BancWest Corporation is controlled and wholly owned by French investment bank BNP Paribas. Bank of the West is a sponsor of the annual Bank of The West Classic tennis tournament, A US Open Series Event.

The bank has experienced tremendous growth in the past 5 years, with Q1 2006 net income up 21% from the same quarter of 2005. Acquisitions of smaller banks, such as the recent acquisition of Commercial Federal Bank, have largely fueled this growth.

The bank has 680 branch banking locations in California, Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Nevada, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

History

1874: The Bank of the West began as Farmers National Gold Bank.
1879: All national banknotes became redeemable in gold or silver and the bank changed its name to First National Bank of San Jose.
1970: Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP) established French Bank of California.
1970s: First National Bank of San Jose changed its name to Bank of the West.
1979: BNP bought Bank of the West and merged in French Bank of California.
1987: BW bought Bank of Los Gatos.
1990: BW bought Central Banking Systems.
1991: BW bought 30 branches in Northern California from failed Imperial Savings and Loan.
1992: BW bought Atlantic Financial Federal Savings Bank from the Resolution Trust Corporation.
1993: BW bought 15 branches in Northern California from Citibank.
1995: BW bought NorthBay Savings Bank.
1995: First Hawaiian (see below) established Pacific One Bank to hold 30 branches in Washington, Oregon and Idaho that it acquired from West One Bank.

Bank of The West Classic

1997: BW bought branches from Bank of America and Coast Federal Bank.
1998: BNP and First Hawaiian Inc., the parent of First Hawaiian Bank and Pacific One Bank, created a company under the BancWest Bancorp name to hold BW and First Hawaiian Bank, with BW absorbing Pacific One. The creation of BancWest Bancorp caused now BNP Paribas’ (BNPP) ownership of the holding company to fall to 45%. BNPP also agreed not to increase its ownership of the bank holding company before November 2001.
1999: BW bought Sierra West Bancorp. This transaction temporarily diluted BNPP’s ownership of the holding company to 42%.
2001: First Security Bancorp and Wells Fargo merged. To avoid antitrust issues, they sold First Securities’ branches in New Mexico and Wells Fargo’s branches in Nevada to BW.
2001: First Hawaiian Bank bought Union Bank of California’s branches in Guam and Saipan. First Hawaiian had established its first branch in Guam in 1970 and its first branch in Saipan in 1997. (Union Bank of California had established its branch in Guam in 1974.)
May 2001: The independent directors of BancWest Bancorp established a Special Committee that then unanimously voted to accept BNPP’s offer to acquire the remaining 55% of BancWest Bancorp, making the holding company a wholly-owned subsidiary of BNPP.
Dec. 2001: BW bought United California Bank from UFJ Bank, of Japan.
Mar. 2004: BW announced the purchase of Community First Bankshares, a bank holding company that operated Community First National Bank, headquartered in Fargo, North Dakota, which had 155 offices in 12 states -- Arizona, California, Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Wisconsin and Wyoming. Soon after BW agreed to buy USDB Bancorp, parent of Union Safe Deposit Bank.
Dec. 2005: BW bought Commercial Federal Corporation of Omaha, Nebraska. This merger added offices in Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Oklahoma to Bank of the West.
Feb. 2006: BW opens representative office in Tokyo, Japan.

External links

Commercial banks in the United States