Jim Glines, CEO of Community Bank of Santa Maria, announced in late November the bank’s decision to pass on Treasury’s TARP Capital Purchase Plan—a.k.a. the “Bail Out” Plan—designed to encourage U.S. financial institutions to build capital.
According to a press release, however, Community Bank of Santa Maria is well capitalized and hasn’t seen a need to curtail lending.
“We are somewhat traditional when it comes to our lending,” Chief Operating Officer Janet Silveria said in the release. “We don’t have any sub-prime loans, and we don’t invest in mortgage backed securities. We haven’t stopped lending, nor do we plan to.
“Had we needed the funds, we would have accepted them,” she added. “We just don’t need them.”
The bank is still participating in programs offered by the FDIC; the FDIC Deposit Insurance Limit was raised to $250,000 for all depositors through Dec. 31, 2009. The bank is also buying more FDIC insurance, which provides unlimited FDIC insurance coverage for funds in non-interest bearing and Now checking accounts, also through Dec. 31, 2009.
For more information about Community Bank of Santa Maria, visit yourcbsm.com.
This article appears in Dec 11-18, 2008.