Los Angeles is a hotbed of established and budding personal wealth, and Brentwood-based Banc of California has thrown its hat into the ring to service those riches.
The $34 billion regional bank launched a private banking division last week after 85 years of lending to businesses.
Leading Banc of Cal’s new team is Aaron Houpis, who joined in 2019 as a market executive before getting tapped to manage the bank’s specialty deposits group. Houpis’ recent promotion has him serving as executive vice president and managing director of specialty deposits and private banking.
“We designed a high-touch solution with input from clients and wealth managers who felt there was a gap in the market on the personal side, having experienced Banc of California’s service-first approach on the business side,” Houpis said in a news release.
The team will “fill the void we see in the market for a very high-touch, tech-forward banking experience,” said Jared Wolff, Banc of Cal’s chair and chief executive in the release. The bank will offer a standard roster of services to high-net-worth clients, including premium deposit accounts, customized personal lending and lines of credit, and treasury solutions.
Bank of Cal joins several other entrants that have recently trickled into the Southern California market to service the wealthy. Last fall, Providence-based Citizens Private Bank expanded its presence into L.A. with new offices in Beverly Hills and Manhattan Beach. Downtown-based City National Bank beefed up its private banking team in L.A., Orange County and the Bay Area in August, hiring 10 new bankers.
Private banking has become an increasingly lucrative business, with national industry-wide revenue growing annually at 7.5% to $128.7 billion in the last five years, according to a report from market research firm IBISWorld.
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