Westamerica Ban history

The First National Bank of Mendocino County provided the holding company with its oldest bank charter dating to 1886.

The three individual banks which formed the 1972 holding company and many of the subsequent additions to the Westamerica network are invested with their own community banking history.

The new structure began operations in 1973.

In 1974, the company acquired Bank of Lake County, a California state-chartered bank that operated in the county adjacent to where Westamerica's existing operations were located.

These six banks were consolidated in mid-1983 into a single subsidiary bank, First National Bank of Mendocino County, which subsequently changed its name to Westamerica Bank.

Payne had been a director of the company since 1985 and his grandfather had been chairman of the Vaca Valley Bank.

The company purchased the $60 million asset-based John Muir National Bank in 1992.

Within 18 months, Zuckerman described Payne as one of the banking industry's "rising stars" and as "an up-and-coming banking executive" in a January 21, 1993 article in The American Banker.

A February 28, 1994 article in The American Banker described how a team approach "enabled Westamerica to consolidate in just 60 days" the operations of the acquired Napa Valley Bancorp. and noted that Westamerica retained 95 percent of Napa Valley's existing business.

Thompson's July 18, 1995 report for Dain Bosworth recognized Westamerica's local bankers as a "top-notch sales force."