Bruce Ives moved to the center of town without moving his chair.

Allow him to explain. “When I came here three years ago, the bank was somewhat on the outskirts of Santee on Mission Gorge Road and there wasn’t much east of Cuyamaca Street,” says Cuyamaca Bank’s chief executive. “What happened is the Trolley Square Center, with a Target and Barnes & Noble, opened right across the street, and all of a sudden we find ourselves in the center of Santee.”

Ives is not only at the center of the Santee turnaround, he also is guiding a 180-degree pivot for the 20-year-old bank. Beset by regulatory problems and miffed shareholders a few years back, the bank is in the process of breaking through the $100 million asset ceiling that Ives says will enable it to approach a return on assets of 1 percent or greater (see “Ranking Banking”).

And while de novo banks hugging the Bay and the North Coast race to reach $100 million in assets in a low margin environment, Cuyamaca collects interest from an older, more profitable portfolio in a niche market largely ceded to Cuyamaca by the competition.

“This may not be the first market that banks think of going into, but it’s an untapped market that’s growing,” says Ives. “As the only locally headquartered bank in East County, we’re looking to dominate” the region. (Well, Borrego Springs Bank isn’t exactly HQ’d in Imperial Valley.)

Highway 52 has turned Santee into a San Diego bedroom community. Mix in the commercial and industrial center of El Cajon and a real estate-savvy base of doctors and lawyers concentrated in La Mesa. “It’s a real nice, diverse array of clients to draw from,” Ives says.

Ives’ top lieutenants are Chief Financial Officer Paul Cable and Chief Credit Officer Philip Chapman. Ives’ former roost was as senior veep for Scripps Bank North County Coastal Region.

Last July, Cuyamaca opened an Encinitas office to leverage the expertise of local banker Ken Baker, who also has a following in Carlsbad. Ives also wants to expand his SBA portfolio, and has hired Tom Welch, who Ives says “started the SBA department at Scripps.”