He doesn't have too far to go. I have a lot of respect for those two fellows as bankers and I congratulate them on their success. There was a news item today, one of the members of the Federal Reserve Board stating that the merger activity that's taken place in the last couple years has been, in fact, good for small banks because the small banks are able to offer the service to customers that they can't get from their merged banks. Where lenders or management once had the ability to approve your loan locally, that now has to go to Los Angeles or Utah. It's a shame.
Customers really feel the loss of having a responsive banker.
Most business owners do not want to wait the extra two to three weeks for a decision. It even affects the staff. Several of the prominent local players have left as a result, with two of them attempting to start their own community bank and get back to what we at Palomar are now doing. They'll truly be missed. Wells Fargo's culture is going to be tough for most of NCB's customers and employees to swallow, as evidenced by the response we've received after they were sold.