American Riviera Bank Brings Community Banking Back to Downtown San Luis Obispo

News item February 12, 2019 by American Riviera Bank

(Santa Barbara, CA) Continuing with its commitment to offer “true community banking” throughout our region, American Riviera Bank (OTC Markets: ARBV) announced that it has opened a loan production office in Downtown San Luis Obispo. They will be expanding to a full-service branch at the same location in the spring of 2019.

“In the summer of 2017, we opened a loan production office in Paso Robles that has now become the fastest growing full-service bank branch in Paso, with a hand-picked, home-grown team, focused on the specific banking needs of the local community. Our plan for San Luis Obispo is exactly the same,” said Jeff DeVine, President and CEO. “We are committed to bringing back true community banking with a team empowered to make local decisions to best serve our clients’ needs.”

The core management team of the new office will consist of Jay Beck, SVP/Regional Commercial Banking Manager (left); Stephanie Marden, Vice President/Commercial Banking Officer (center) and Gary Tanner, Vice President/Portfolio Manager (right). All three are long-time San Luis Obispo bankers and residents.

The architect and builder for the new branch at 1085 Higuera Street is the same duo that created the bank’s highly regarded branch in Paso Robles. The SLO branch will restore the look and feel of the original building while modernizing it, similar to what was accomplished in Paso Robles.

Joanne Funari, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, commented, “the American Riviera Bank motto is ‘Bank on Better’ and we want our clients in SLO to experience better banking the moment they come in contact with ARB. We are a local community bank and we invest in local people and businesses. We take the term ‘Community Bank’ very seriously.”

“We are excited to bring the community bank experience back to Downtown SLO,” said Jay Beck.  “American Riviera Bank invests in its people and its community and is dedicated to its clients. We are looking forward to sharing the ARB experience with all of San Luis Obispo.”