The California Bankers Association has a new chief executive, Rodney Brown, who spent the last 12 years as president and chief executive of Montecito Bank & Trust in Santa Barbara.
The California Bankers Association was founded in 1891 and is one of the largest state banking trade associations in the nation. Its membership is comprised of more than 300 institutions.
Whole Foods has acquired smaller natural foods rival Wild Oats Markets for $565 million.
Whole Foods announced the acquisition in February, bu the Federal Trade Commission sued to block the deal on antitrust grounds. A federal appeals court recently denied the FTC’s request to temporarily block the sale.
Sacramento area building permits for new homes declined almost 25 percent last month, as homebuilders face a significant slowdown of the residential real estate market.
Homebuilders received 549 permits for single-family homes last month in the four county (Sacramento, El Dorado, Place and Yolo) region, a drop from 663 permits in July 2006.
Stewart Title Company has agreed to pay a penalty of one million dollars to the California Department of Insurance.
The statewide title company was accused of paying more than $500,000 in kickbacks to lenders, builders, and title agents in exchange for receiving business referrals. Stewart Title Company has agreed to halt the illegal activities and pay $1 million in penalties.
Stewart Title has about 10 percent of the California title insurance market and has local branch offices in Sacramento, El Dorado, Placer and Yolo counties.
Safeway has remodeled its Fair Oaks supermarket into its lifestyle format. The remodel of the 46,000 square foot store, which opened in 2003, took about a month and a half.
The Safeway at 5450 Dewey Drive gained a soup cart and olive bar; a gourmet cheese table; a culinary center with the latest cooking gadgets; and expanded organic, wine, bakery, floral, and pharmacy departments.
Safeway has converted a dozen of its 19 Sacramento area stores to the new format, leaving seven more to remodel. Safeway began switching to the new look four years ago and expects to transform all of its 270 stores in Northern California within two years.
The Residence Inn by Marriott Sacramento at Capitol Park is now open for business. The new hotel is 15 stories high and has 235 suites.
The hotel is located at 15th and L streets in downtown Sacramento, across the street from Capitol Park and a block away from the Sacramento Convention Center.
Sacramento home sales declined 10 percent in July from June and are down 23.7 percent from a year ago, according to the California Association of Realtors.
The decline in sales was driven by both tightened mortgage underwriting standards since the beginning of this year and the averse psychological impact of news and information in the Sacramento Bee regarding increases in real estate foreclosures and the subprime loan situation.
The average price of a Sacramento home sold during July was $346,220, only 1.5 percent less than in June and but 8.4 percent less than a year ago.
Southwest Airlines has opened a terminal in San Francisco with daily, nonstop flights to Chicago Midway, San Diego and Las Vegas. Southwest said it will launch a new San Francisco to Los Angeles route beginning in November.
Southwest previously flew out of the San Francisco International Airport from 1982 to 2001, but quit because of high airport costs and inefficiencies.
A number of River City Bank customers have complained about the level of customer service received from River City Bank, espicially at the Natomas office. Complaints range from inept service from their private banker to excessive minor service fees in the online banking department.
The complaints come from long time customers of the bank.
Mortgage lender Accredited Home Lenders Holding Co. announced it is not taking any new real estate loans and it is closing “substantially all” of its 60 lending offices and five support locations by early September.
Accredited has retail mortgage branch offices in Sacramento, Roseville and Folsom, and it has a centralized retail office in Sacramento.
The mortgage company said five of its ten wholesale divisions will be closed by September 5. There will also be staff reductions at the remaining five mortage offices. The wholesale mortgage work force will be cut by 490 positions, leaving only 340 employees.