A Second Life for an American Bank

There were 437 bank failures in the United States between 2009 and 2012, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., most of them victims of the financial crisis and the sharpest economic downturn since the Great Depression. CalWest Bancorp was not one of them, despite experiencing some financial difficulties of its own during the crisis years, and today it faces a bright future with a successful recapitalization and reconstituted board. As much as anything, the story of CalWest, a $136.6 million asset bank holding company based in Rancho Santa Margarita, California, is a strong vote of confidence for the potential...