ECONOMY
banking experience . That means access to a “ state of the art mobile application ,” from which customers can manage their accounts and understand their personal finances , according to a company representative , speaking on background . But the spokesperson says no additional details about its platform would be available until the deal is complete .
Fleming disputes that , contending the deal is about giving SoFi access to Golden Pacific ’ s bank charter . To take customer deposits , a company needs federal deposit insurance and a bank charter , which is tough to land . “ This was just getting a banking license ,” says Fleming of SoFi . “ They bought a banking license .”
Asked to comment , Varela responded by email , in part : “ The acquisition by SoFi is an exciting partnership and will absolutely provide Golden Pacific customers a much more expansive array of enhanced products and services and use of Galileo ’ s technology platform . After the deal closes , it ’ s anticipated that SoFi will maintain all three Golden Pacific branches and staff .
I will stay on and am entirely committed to leading the Golden Pacific community bank business .” ( Galileo is a financial services application programming interface and payments platform that SoFi acquired last April .)
Fleming also contends the technology pressures on banks are overblown . “ We don ’ t feel any pressure because of any technological deficiency ,” he says . He ’ s not aware that he ’ s lost any customers or failed to sign up new ones because of it .
He claims the latest acquisitions mean more market share for the largest remaining local banks , River City and Five Star Bank . Fleming points to 20 percent growth in River City ’ s loan portfolios in the last five years . And Five Star president and CEO James Beckwith , also a Comstock ’ s Editorial Advisory Board member , points to his bank ’ s asset growth from $ 500 million to $ 2 billion . “ This is a good market to grow in ,” he says , noting the upsurge in the region ’ s population before and since the pandemic . “ Larger banks
want to be in our market … and they should .”
Both Fleming and Beckwith say their banks have no interest in being acquired . “ Five Star Bank has been around for a while , and we ’ re here to stay ,” says Beckwith . “ We ’ re not going anywhere . We ’ re not selling . This is our hometown , our home region , and we stand to benefit from the uncertainty ( caused by local acquisitions ).”
The question is for how long . It ’ s true that local banks that outlast a buying spree do gain when smaller competitors get absorbed , says Carpenter . “ But it ’ s not quite as true that the strong survive , because the strong end up eventually selling as well ,” he says .
Steven Yoder writes about business , real estate and criminal justice . His work has appeared in The Fiscal Times , Salon , The American Prospect and elsewhere . Online at www . stevenyoder . net and on Twitter @ syodertweet . impac ‘ 21
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50 comstocksmag . com | September 2021