Eilene Zimmerman

San Diego Business

Feds Close San Diego National Bank

Future of bank president Robert Horsman not yet announced
By Eilene Zimmerman
Posted on Thu, Nov 5th, 2009
Last updated Tue, Nov 3rd, 2009

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation recently took over San Diego National Bank—all 28 branches—as well as eight other failed banks nationwide.

The banks involved in the seizure were Bank USA, National Association (Phoenix); California National Bank (Los Angeles); San Diego National Bank; Pacific National Bank (San Francisco); Park National Bank (Chicago); Community Bank of Lemont (Lemont, Illinois); North Houston Bank; Madisonville State Bank (Madisonville, Texas); and Citizens National Bank (Teague, Texas).

The iconic downtown

branch of the SDNB.

_{Photo by Ron Donoho}

As of September 30, the banks had combined assets of $19.4 billion and deposits of $15.4 billion.

Like other failed banks across the nation, SDNB’s problems were due largely to losses from investments with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. All the banks, including San Diego National Bank, have reopened as branches of U.S. Bank, a subsidiary of U.S. Bancorp, headquartered in Minneapolis.

Depositors of San Diego National Bank automatically became depositors of U.S. Bank, says Jennifer Wendt, a spokesperson for U.S. Bank. “Bank customers really shouldn’t notice any difference at all, it should be pretty seamless,” she says.

The bank will be rebranded as U.S. Bank sometime in the next several months, and Wendt says not only will customers find no interruption in the usual, day-to-day operations of the bank, but in the future will likely have access to expanded services.

Wendt says “customer-facing employees” will stay with the bank, but as for what will happen to San Diego National Bank’s president and CEO Robert Horsman, Wendt says it is “too early in the process to have made any other personnel-related decisions.”

Horsman has been well respected over the years in the local business community. During his tenure, SDNB grew to be one of the region’s largest, locally headquartered community banks. It was founded in 1981, downtown, where the bank’s headquarters—on Kettner and Ash streets—became something of an icon. In 1994, internationally known environmental artist Wyland painted a life-size mural of grey whales on the building’s north-facing wall. Those whales were then integrated into the bank’s logo.

The closing of SDNB and eight other banks in one day was the most the FDIC has shuttered since last year, when banks began failing because of the financial crisis. The closings bring the number of failed U.S. banks this year to 115, according to the Associated Press.

About the author: Eilene Zimmerman is a journalist based in San Diego who writes about a variety of topics, including business, social and political issues and family life. Her work has been published in national magazines and newspapers including The New York Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Christian Science Monitor, FORTUNE Small Business, CNNMoney.com, CBS MoneyWatch.com, Wired, Harper’s, Salon.com, Slate.com, Psychology Today and others. She blogs at www.trueslant.com.
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