News You Can Use

FRONTIER BANK PRESIDENT ENJOYS "SECOND CAREER" AS PHOTOGRAPHER.

PARK CITY, UTAH – August 1, 2008— Frontier Bank’s President and Chief Operating Officer, Marc Estabrook is establishing himself as a talented Western landscape photographer. Estabrook took up photography in 2003 when friend David Schultz, owner of West Light Images in Park City, generously offered to teach him his art. Schultz is considered one of the masters of landscape photography.

Today, Estabrook spends vacations and some leisure time photographing the West’s natural and scenic beauty. Estabrook’s photographs often showcase the surrounding beauty of Park City. “My interest in landscape photography has evolved from my love of hiking, backpacking and being outdoors. Although the majority of my time is devoted to family and the maintenance of a "real" job, living in Park City affords me easy access to the grandeur and diversity of the American west.”

Estabrook has spent nearly 30 years in the financial services industry. He was the President of Great Western Thrift & Loan before joining Frontier. He’s held several key executive portions at Frontier since assisting with the bank’s founding in 1998.

Merging the worlds of banking and photography has proved especially rewarding for Estabrook. “I do have a fairly consuming day job, so when I have the opportunity to go out and shoot, I really enjoy it. The pace is obviously much slower, and I’ll take several hundred shots in the hope of obtaining just one or two worth keeping. I love doing landscapes, due mainly to the beautiful surroundings and simply being outdoors”.

For now, Estabrook’s photography is a just a hobby. But someday he would like to devote more time to this pursuit and occasionally wonders if it could become a second career. “I’ve got a lot of years of banking ahead of me, although it’s fun to at least imagine different possibilities. But then I look at the quality of David’s work, and I quickly return to reality” he says. Estabrook photographs his landscapes a little differently from many modern photographers, by still using old-fashioned film. Estabrook shoots 35 millimeter slides and then utilizes a scanner to convert the images into a high resolution digital format. Color correction and darkroom tasks are then performed digitally using photo editing software. The results are brilliant images rich in color and depth.

To see Estabrook’s portfolio, visit his website at www.estabrookphotography.com.

Frontier Bank is Park City’s only locally owned and operated community bank. Unlike many smaller financial institutions, Frontier boasts a diverse and experienced board of directors, made up of nationally recognized business leaders. Frontier Bank, FSB is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Western Community Bancshares, Inc., and has over $300 million in assets with operations in both California and Utah.  The bank specializes in providing a broad array of financial services to local businesses and consumers.

EL PASEO BANK VICE CHAIRMAN AND CEO, ANDREW MONTGOMERY SPEAKS OUT ON CRUX OF MORTGAGE CRISIS IN DESERT SUN AS INDUSTRY INSIDER.

PALM DESERT, CA. – July 8, 2008—Andy Montgomery’s Opinion piece, “Abandonment of Safeguards led to Mortgage Mess” recently published in the Desert Sun tackles the current mortgage crisis from a unique perspective.

Montgomery’s deep background on banking and variable rate mortgages educates readers as industry insiders. In 1975, James Montgomery, Montgomery’s father successfully pioneered the variable rate mortgage while President and CEO of Great Western Savings and Loan. James Montgomery is a well-respected legend within the banking industry. Mr. Montgomery was Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of Great Western Financial Corp. and its wholly owned subsidiary, Great Western Bank. He structured the variable rate mortgage at a time when it made perfect sense for both bankers and borrowers.

The younger, Montgomery explains that in 1969 mortgage bankers Angelo Mozilo and David Loeb launched, Countrywide Credit Industries. In retrospect it’s no surprise that the company was not initially successful at least for shareholders. It languished for under $1 a share for many years and was delisted until 1985.

In the mid 1970’s, James Montgomery’s mission was to pioneer the variable rate mortgage. He had been unsuccessful when he tried it earlier as Chief Financial Officer with United Savings. But in 1975, as President of a much larger institution, Great Western Savings, Montgomery believed he then had the clout and capacity to make it work.

The reasons to do it were simple. Savings and loans associations were getting killed by long-term fixed rate mortgages when interest rates rose on their sources of funding, deposits. By allowing the mortgage rate to vary with the bank’s cost of funds, Montgomery knew he could create a much stronger balance sheet for his institution. He also believed the lower introductory rates would benefit the consumers by allowing for easier entry into homeownership.”

Montgomery’s mission succeeded and bank balance sheet’s strengthened while home ownership increased. As the Mortgage Banking industry evolved over the next three decades including the introduction of the mortgage backed security so did the type of retail banking products offered. Hence today’s mortgage mess. According to Montgomery’s piece, “James Montgomery certainly never envisioned or condoned the use of variable or adjustable interest rate products in the manner in which they were used over the past few years. Pay option, interest only, hybrids with low teaser rates, were not part of the lexicon when Great Western was sold to Washington Mutual in 1997. Even during his tenure on the board of Freddie Mac until 2002, Mr. Montgomery would have protested if knew the lender was to qualify the borrower’s ability to repay based on a teaser rate or on non-documented (now commonly referred to as LIAR) income.”

Montgomery goes on to succinctly explain why the great American dream of homeownership has become a nightmare for so many and shaken our economy to its foundation. Montgomery is the vice chairman and CEO of Western Bancshares and its community bank subsidiaries, including Frontier Bank based in Park City, Utah and El Paseo Bank in Palm Desert.

El Paseo Bank has become one of Palm Desert’s premier locally owned and operated banks. What’s more, the impressive banking expertise provided by El Paseo’s board of directors has been instrumental in forming this outstanding community bank. El Paseo Bank is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Western Community Bancshares, Inc., which has over $300 million in assets, with operations in California and Utah.  The bank specializes in providing a broad array of financial services to local businesses and consumers.