Friendly Hills Bank

09/27/2021

We are proud to announce the opening of our two newest offices - expanding our presence into Orange and San Bernardino Counties. You can now get the same outstanding service we are known for in Whittier and Santa Fe Springs at 625 The City Drive in Orange and 408 East State St in Redlands. Welcome to our new clients and team members!

04/19/2021

We are very pleased to soon welcome these new offices to our company - further extending our commitment to a business model which values client relationships with the highest quality service.

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA BANCORP ANNOUNCES SALE OF THREE BRANCHES
TO FRIENDLY HILLS BANK
San Diego and Whittier, Calif., April 19, 2021 – Southern California Bancorp, (OTC Pink: BCAL), the holding company for Bank of Southern California, N.A., and Friendly Hills Bank (OTCBB: FHLB) jointly announce the signing of a definitive agreement whereby Friendly Hills Bank will acquire three Bank of Southern California branches. The branches are located in Orange, Redlands and Santa Fe Springs, California.
“This transaction represents our disciplined approach to aligning our branch network to support our evolving commercial banking model,” said Nathan Rogge, President and Chief Executive Officer of Bank of Southern California. “These three branches are more aligned to serve a consumer or small business banking model, rather than a commercial banking model. We thoughtfully executed the sale of these branches and are pleased to have found the right partner for our customers and employees in Friendly Hills Bank, a local community bank.”
“These offices and the communities which they serve are a strong fit with our local community bank model,” said Jeffrey K. Ball, Chief Executive Officer of Friendly Hills Bank. “This transaction provides us with an opportunity to extend our quality service model for relationship-based banking and payroll processing services. We are excited to welcome these new clients and employees to the Friendly Hills Bank family.”
The transaction is subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals and satisfaction of customary closing conditions and is expected to close in the third quarter of 2021.
D.A. Davidson & Co. served as financial advisor and Duane Morris LLP served as legal counsel to Bank of Southern California. Piper Sandler & Co. served as financial advisor and Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP served as legal counsel for Friendly Hills Bank.
ABOUT BANK OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA AND SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA BANCORP
A growing commercial bank, established in 2001, Bank of Southern California, N.A., with headquarters in San Diego, CA, offers a range of financial products to individuals, professionals, and small-to-medium sized businesses. The Bank's solution-driven, relationship-based approach to banking provides accessibility to decision makers and enhances value through strong partnerships with its clients. The Bank currently operates branches in San Diego County, Los Angeles County, Orange County, San Bernardino County, and the Coachella Valley in Riverside County.
Southern California Bancorp is a registered bank holding company formed for the purpose of acquiring control of the Bank. The Bank became a wholly owned subsidiary of Bancorp in a reorganization transaction that closed on May 15, 2020.
For more information, please visit https://www.banksocal.com or call (844) BNK-SOCAL.
ABOUT FRIENDLY HILLS BANK
Friendly Hills Bank is a community bank which was formed to primarily serve the Southern California communities of eastern Los Angeles County and northern Orange County. The Bank was established in 2006 by prominent members of the local community who were seeking an alternative to the larger financial institutions in the area. The Bank is headquartered in Whittier, California with an additional branch office in Santa Fe Springs, California.
For more information on the Bank, please visit www.friendlyhillsbank.com or call 562-947-1920.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This news release may include forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and Southern California Bancorp, Bank of Southern California and Friendly Hills Bank (the “Companies”) intend for such forward-looking statements to be covered by the safe harbor provisions for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Future events are difficult to predict, and the expectations described above are necessarily subject to risk and uncertainty that may cause actual results to differ materially and adversely. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. They often include the words “believe,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “plan,” “estimate,” or words of similar meaning, or future or conditional verbs such as “will,” “would,” “should,” “could,” or “may.” These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, nor should they be relied upon as representing management’s views as of any subsequent date. Forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties and actual results may differ materially from those presented, either expressed or implied, in this news release. Factors that might cause such differences include, but are not limited to: the Companies’ ability to successfully execute their business plans and achieve their objectives; changes in general economic and financial market conditions, either nationally or locally, in areas in which the Companies conduct their operations; changes in interest rates; continuing consolidation in the financial services industry; new litigation or changes in existing litigation; increased competitive challenges and expanding product and pricing pressures among financial institutions; legislation or regulatory changes which adversely affect the Companies’ operations or business; loss of key personnel; and changes in accounting policies or procedures as may be required by the Financial Accounting Standards Board or other regulatory agencies.
The Companies undertake no obligation to publicly revise these forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.

Welcome to Friendly Hills Bank, we are happy to help with all of your banking needs. Please contact us with any questions!

01/09/2021

This coming week we will be hosting a series of webinars regarding the next round of PPP Funding. If you would like to join please send an email to [email protected] indicating which session you would like to attend and we will send you the information to join.

Monday, January 11th – 12-1pm
Tuesday, January 12th – 8-9am
Wednesday, January 13th – 5-6pm
Thursday, January 14th – 7-8am

This webinar is open to all local businesses looking to get straight-forward information on the program. You do not have to be a client of the bank to participate.

Friendly Hills Bank was a leader in the first round of PPP providing our local business community with the information needed to understand and maximize the benefits of the program and we will do it for you again in this next round.

12/21/2020

Congress is close to passing a new relief bill which includes provisions for a new round of PPP Funding. Friendly Hills Bank was a leader in our local community for the first round of the PPP program and we expect to do so again for this next round. Once the bill is signed into law we will await further details from the Small Business Administration. Until then we have very little information which we can provide. Watch here and on our website for further details as they are available. Thank you for supporting your local community bank!

08/24/2020

The IRS recently released this advisory regarding the risks involved with choosing your payroll processer. Many of these companies charge lower processing fees for the opportunity to invest your tax payments for their own benefit before payment is due. The problem is that this is to their benefit at YOUR risk as you are still responsible for your tax payments and the penalties are big. If they go under you are still on the hook! We are a bank so your tax payments are always secure with federal deposit insurance to back that up and eliminate the risk to you. With rates so low these independent operators are having to get more aggressive with their investments - which may be why the IRS is giving this guidance. So ask your provider where they are holding your money and where the processing work is actually being done. if you don't like the answers we are here to handle it for you safely and locally with people you know and service so good we refer to you as a "client".

WASHINGTON — The IRS reminded employers today to carefully choose their payroll service providers following continuing concerns that some disreputable organizations can fail to deposit employment taxes, leaving businesses vulnerable to unpaid bills.

06/22/2020

Today we are hosting the first in a series of webinars for our PPP Borrowers explaining the PPP Loan Forgiveness Process. We will be discussing how it works, sharing the tools we have developed to simplify the process and answering questions in an open format.

If you received your PPP Loan through Friendly Hills Bank you should have received an email with the schedule. These webinars are only for PPP Borrowers who received their PPP loan through Friendly Hills Bank.

This is another example of the many advantages small business owners have when they have their primary banking and payroll relationship with Friendly Hills Bank. The PPP program may be coming to a close but it’s never too late to come experience the benefits of a relationship with Friendly Hills Bank.

We look forward to “seeing” all of our borrowers this week.

05/19/2020

The Loan Forgiveness Application was released by the SBA on Friday night and contains important updates on the program and forgiveness process. Join us this coming Friday for an information session on what you should be doing now to maximize the benefit of your PPP loan and prepare for the loan forgiveness and repayment phases of the program. Because this is a standardized government loan program the information is valuable regardless of who you received your PPP loan from and the Chamber has opened the program up to non-members although space will be prioritized to members. We are doing this as a service to the Chamber and our local business community to help business owners better understand the PPP program. Register and join us this Friday afternoon.

Have you asked yourself, "I got my PPP loan...now what?" Then this is the perfect webinar for you! Friendly Hills Bank President & CEO Jeff Ball is an expert on the PPP loan and will answer any questions you may have.

Click here to register: bit.ly/WC-PPPLOAN

04/29/2020

As of this evening every single one of our business clients who submitted a complete application have either been funded or have SBA approval and will be funded by the end of the week. Many non-client applications received SBA approval today as well with more in the queue. Those that followed the guide on our website and submitted a complete application are being processed first. With so much volume we apologize that we can’t respond to every status request but we continue to process applications and will notify you of your approval with transmission of your loan documents. Thank you for your patience and understanding. We recognize how vital this money is for our local businesses and are doing everything we can to expedite approval and funding for every complete application.

04/27/2020

The SBA Portal will be opening shortly and our team is ready with a stack of verified applications. Our focus today will be on inputting for SBA Guarantee approval as many as we can. But many other lenders are doing the same and we don’t know how efficient the system will be. Please understand that our focus is on getting as many loans through that process as possible. Once loans are approved we then move to a documentation process which is how you will be informed when your loan is approved and ready. We recognize that for many local businesses the timing is just as important as the approval and we will move as quickly as we can responding to inquiries as we can to get this money out. Thank you in advance for your patience and understanding.

04/24/2020

Our team worked late into the night again preparing PPP applications for our clients and local businesses. Every complete application that we have received is now ready in the queue for when SBA begins new guarantee authorizations.

04/16/2020

We continue to process and fund PPP loans for our clients as quickly as we can. We cannot reiterate enough how critical it is that you submit only completed applications as it takes valuable time to process those that are not accurate or missing documentation. Please follow the guide on our website and use the tools that we provide. We will continue to accept and process applications even if the SBA halts their approval mechanism in anticipation that further funding for the program is forthcoming. This means that we will prepare them for submission of SBA approval and hold them until the program is started again. If you recently received documentation for your loan it is still good but per program rules you must execute the note and fund within 10 calendar days of the SBA approval. We are sending those documents electronically to the email address from which you sent your application so please watch for them. We are doing everything we can to help as many businesses as possible. Thank you in advance for understanding.