Mike Perry

San Diego Trust Bank reports a profit of $1.25 million for the year ended Dec. 31, its third full year of operation. The bank’s return on average assets (ROA) was an outstanding 1.51 percent for the year. Michael Perry, the founding CEO who recently took the chairman’s seat from founder Larry Willette, says the bank fully recovered all of its initial operating losses and organizational expenses prior to the end of its third year “and finished 2006 with positive retained earnings, a feat no other independent community bank in San Diego has accomplished.”

So there. Perry is careful to point out who runs a truly independent community bank and who doesn’t, like this month’s three cover boys, representing “a subsidiary of a holding company, a bank owned 70 percent by an individual who lives in Washington state, and another bank which is part of a holding company owned 100 percent by an individual who resides in Illinois.”

Incidentally, those three cover boys are standing in the vault of San Diego Trust Bank’s namesake, the old San Diego Trust & Savings Bank, which, like Perry’s bank, really was an independent community bank.

The new San Diego Trust says its good 2006 performance was in spite of a pre-tax charge of more than $200,000 due to a new accounting standard that requires companies to record compensation expense related to stock options.

Gross loans in 2006 increased 20 percent to $65.6 million, compared to $54.6 million for the same period of 2005. Total deposits, fueled by growth in non-interest checking and money market accounts, increased to $81.2 million compared to $71.6 million a year ago. Total assets increased to $95.1 million, up from $83.5 million the year prior.

***

The new executive v.p. and senior credit manager for California Bank & Trust is Joel Ewan, who will partner with Jim Horton, also an executive v.p., in managing the lender’s 30 offices in San Diego and Riverside counties. A 23-year banker, Ewan holds a bachelor’s in math from UCLA and an MBA in finance from New York University. Appropriately, he lives in Bankers Hill. Before his promotion, Horton was senior v.p./regional manager and director of marketing at the bank since its 1999 founding.

***

Carl Koenig has joined Mission Federal Credit Union as v.p. and regional market manager. Coming to the position after 15 years with BofA, he will oversee branches, personnel and operations in San Diego’s eastern and southern regions.

***

In a move it says exceeds new Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council requirements, Security Business Bank has introduced a new online banking security program that has made a tech-talker out of its president. “Reflective of the most advanced online banking technology available today, our multifactor authentication solution will help safeguard our online banking customers against unauthorized activity and Internet scams used to obtain confidential information,” says CEO Paul Rodeno. By March 31, all the bank’s online customers must use the new, safer system.

***

Anne Legg

The Credit Union National Association’s marketing and business development council has re-elected Anne Legg to a three year term on the eight-person committee. Legg, v.p. of marketing for Cabrillo Credit Union, will serve as vice chair for two years.

***

Rowling, Dold & Associates was one of five nationally, and the only one in San Diego, to win 2007 Award Of Excellence honors from CPA Wealth Provider. Winners of the fourth annual award are companies that have taken the lead through innovation, efficiency, initiative or growth in the financial planning area. Nominations were judged by the chief editors of Accounting Today, CPA Wealth Provider, Practical Accountant and WebCPA. The Mission Valley firm headed by Sheryl Rowling and Debi Dold manages about $200 million in assets on a fee-only basis. It was one of the first CPA/financial planning firms to offer full service fee-only financial advice including financial planning, tax preparation and planning and investment management.

***

Local author Jan Phillips’ new book, “The Art of Original Thinking — The Making of a Thought Leader,” has won the Editor’s Choice Award from Allbooks Review and been nominated by for USABook News.com’s Best Book Award. Phillips, a former nun and entrepreneur who leads workshops in creative transformation and visionary leadership, claims it pays to be good and advocates “triple bottom line reporting,” a method of financial reporting that takes into account profits, people and the planet. “Three forms of capital contribute to the success of a business (social, natural and financial capital) and they should all be producing returns on investments,” says Phillips. “Visionary companies are turning waste into profit now and initiating programs that address the physical, spiritual and emotional needs of their employees. If you do not invest in the whole person — body, mind and spirit — the person will not bring his/her whole being to the workplace.”

***

Founded in 1949 by Robert Grice, the CPA firm of Grice Lund & Tarkington grew into one of San Diego’s largest. Now the Encinitas-based firm is merging with Salem, Oregon-based Aldrich Kilbride & Tatone and taking a new name, AKT. “By combining our talent pools, we improve our ability to address client needs in the changing environment of accounting and financial services,” says Ron Mitchell, GLT managing partner. Headquarters are in Salem.

***

Bullish: Messner & Smith, an investment management firm in Downtown San Diego, says it’s “experiencing growing cash flows from assets exiting the real estate markets in the form of new clients and existing clients adding funds.”