When U.S. Bank concluded its purchase of La Jolla’s Scripps Bank in the winter of 2001, Ron Carlson went on vacation.

But after a month or so of looking at game preserves in Africa and some sailing off the coast of California, Carlson teamed up with Ron Bird, a longtime friend who was part of a group forming a new bank. On a volunteer basis, he notes, Carlson started to work on what would become Landmark National Bank, which opened in September 2002. Bird passed away in January of this year.

Of his brief retirement, Carlson says, “I was not really ready to retire when Scripps Bank was sold.”

What investors want Carlson to do with Landmark is to repeat the success he enjoyed with Scripps. Carlson says he noticed a fair amount of traffic early on from former Scripps/US Bank customers, but that it really picked up when Landmark opened its La Jolla village office in March.

Commenting on the “Ranking Banking” article and chart in last month’s magazine, Carlson says growth is about the only early indicator of future success. But he also says it is possible to start turning a profit at an asset size of $65 million, a little less than the $100 million mentioned by colleagues.

While consumers wait for the economy to get better before they start spending, banks like Landmark need the economy to improve so interest rates will rise. “Gross profits of banks are squeezed when interest rates are as low as they are,” Carlson says. “It has a negative impact on earnings, especially for a new institution.”

To help attract more assets, Landmark recently hired George Romero as a vice president and loan officer. Romero, most recently from Palomar Community Bank, specializes in real estate development loans and Carlson says Rick Mandelbaum, the executive vice president, has known Romero for about 20 years.

Carlson says there’s still a need for effective community banks like Scripps and Peninsula. “Now there are a lot of independent banks either on the screen or in formation,” he said, “so the competition even among the independents will be severe.”