Orman Chosen to Boost Lending at American Commercial Bank

American Commercial Bank of Ventura has hired longtime banker and businessman Michael Orman as its business development officer in an effort to increase its lending operation.

As a top administrator of a local environmental contracting firm for the past seven years, Orman got a first-hand look at the needs of the area’s small-business owners.

The Carpinteria resident said he will put that knowledge to use as he tries to draw the local small-business community to his new employer.

“American Commercial Bank has traditionally been a high-quality customer-service bank that has not been involved in the more risky lending a lot of banks were involved in, in the late 1980s, particularly in the real estate area,” he said.

“Because the bank has not been a very aggressive lender, we now want to make more loans and become a more active participant in that aspect of the market.”

Orman said the 24-year-old, three-branch institution is looking to expand its loans across the board, for consumers and for businesses for such uses as commercial real estate, working capital and equipment purchases.

“If you looked at the bank’s balance sheet, the loan-to-deposit ratio is in the 50%-55% range. The bank’s goal is to increase that ratio to about 70%,” Orman said. “That will take some doing.”

From 1973 to 1983, Orman was employed by Security Pacific Bank branches in Santa Barbara and Los Angeles. He spent the next five years as a branch manager for the Bank of Montecito before entering the world of small business in 1988.

From 1988 to the end of last year, Orman was general manager of Remediation Service International in Ventura. RSI is a manufacturer of equipment used to clean up soil and ground water that has been contaminated by fuel hydrocarbons, particularly gasoline.

Orman said he chose Ventura County for his banking comeback largely because of the potential for small business in the region.

“I looked at a number of opportunities in Ventura and Santa Barbara and decided the business climate was more conducive to growth and expansion in Ventura County,” he said.

“There are so many new businesses coming into Ventura, it seemed there was a better chance to attract customers and to sell the services of a solid, strong community bank.”

Orman said his primary role with American Commercial Bank, initially, is to let the local business community, particularly in Camarillo, Oxnard, Ventura and Ojai, know his institution wants to be an active business lender.

“There is quite a bit of money here to put out on high-quality loans,” he said. “We want a bigger share of the market.”