SCVBank now Bank of the Sierra,
community involvement to continue

As of a few minutes after 6 p.m. last Friday Santa Clara Valley Bank (SCVBank) no longer existed but opening Monday in the historic building at the corner of East Main and Davis streets was Bank of the Sierra.

Parent company Sierra Bancorp announced the completion November 14 of its acquisition of Santa Paula-headquartered Santa Clara Valley Bank, which opened in 1998 after a record fundraising effort by citizens - led by co-founders Scott Rushing and the late Don Oliver - to create a community bank.

Sierra Bancorp paid approximately $15.3 million to the shareholders and warrant holders of SCVBank, which had branches in Fillmore and Valencia that also reopened Monday as Sierra Bank.  

It was announced July 17, 2014, that Sierra Bancorp had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire SCVBank, with $129 million in assets. 

Now, SCVBank customers  will have access to Bank of the Sierra’s enhanced suite of products and services provided by the larger bank with 25 branch locations in Central California.

If the promise of Bank of Sierra - “We will help make every community that we’re in better” - is any indication, it will be a good fit with SCVBank customers.

“That’s our brand promise,” said President-COO Kevin McPhaill, who noted that the acquisition of SCVBank comes on the heels of a major rebranding process that included logo redesign to reflect major strategic planning and visioning. 

“The idea is we want our employees to get up in the morning and be really excited about coming to work, to help every community that we’re in better, that is what we’re all about and what really motivates us.

“We don’t’ want to be in our communities,” said McPhaill, “we want to be part of our communities. These are the folks that work in our branches, that live, work, go to church and belong to the service clubs in our communities.”

There is also other ways the bank shows community support: “We have the Sierra Grant Program where on a quarterly basis we give out grants to organizations in our service areas,” which now includes Santa Paula, Fillmore and Santa Clarita. 

“We really do want our employees to be active in the community and we give our time, involvement and money to the community.”

But, noted McPhaill, “When we say we’re going to make every community better that also relates to local lending, local banking. Not like a bank taking in that money and lending it out of their branch in Los Angeles. Ours is being used to fund loans locally, we’re a multi-community bank,” with a strong track record during its 37 years of operations and at $1.6 billion in assets the largest independent bank headquartered in the South San Joaquin Valley.