Americorp Board Declares a Record 68th Consecutive Cash Dividend.

Business Editors

VENTURA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 28, 2000

The board of directors of Americorp (OTCBB:AICA), the holding company for American Commercial Bank, at its regularly scheduled meeting on Sept. 21, declared a $0.13 per share cash dividend to shareholders of record on Sept. 28, 2000, payable on Oct. 10, 2000.

Based on the number of shares outstanding, the total dollar amount of the dividend will be approximately $270,000.00.

Americorp previously reported semi-annual earnings of $1,685,000 or $0.72 per share fully diluted, which represented a 56.5 percent increase over the $1,077,000 or $0.49 per share fully diluted that was reported for the same period during 1999.

Americorp's president and chief executive officer, Gerald J. Lukiewski, commented: "The local economy continues to provide opportunities for our customers, which has certainly contributed to our success through the first half of this year. Distributing earnings via cash dividends to shareholders is a long tradition here at ACB. ... I am very happy to keep the streak going."

"Over the past 17 years, the Americorp board of directors has maintained a consistent policy of declaring cash dividends to its shareholders. This latest declaration marks the 68th consecutive cash dividend paid to Americorp shareholders. The board is also pleased by the consistent growth of our loan portfolio and customer deposits during the past year," said Robert J. Lagomarsino, chairman of the board of Americorp.

American Commercial Bank is the largest community bank with headquarters in Ventura County, and currently operates full-service branches in Ventura, Oxnard and Camarillo. The bank also has a Mortgage Loan Division serving all of Ventura County. Americorp stock information can be obtained from Maguire Investments at 800/244-4183 or Hoefer & Arnett at 800/346-5544.

This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act. These include statements that relate to or are dependent on estimates or assumptions including, but not limited to, the bank's strategies, objectives and expansion in the growth of its portfolio of loans, investments and deposits. These forward-looking statements involve certain risks and uncertainties. Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated by such forward-looking statements include the following possibilities: (a) competitive pressure among financial institutions increases significantly; (b) changes in the interest rate environment reduce interest margins; (c) general economic conditions are less favorable than expected; (d) actions that may be taken by regulatory authorities having oversight on the operation. The bank undertakes no obligation to publicly release any revisions to these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.