Community West Bancshares Announces Final 1998 and 1999 Restatement Results.

Business Editors

GOLETA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 17, 2000

Community West Bancshares (NASDAQ:CWBC) today announced restated operating results for fiscal years 1998 and 1999 required as a result of a notification from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) that capital positions had been incorrectly calculated as part of several prior loan securitization programs.

John D. Markel, chairman of the board, commented on the results, saying, "These restated results bring to a conclusion all major outstanding issues with respect to the OCC notification. While the past five months have been very difficult, they have also been a key turning point in the development of our company. We emerge from a complete fiscal turnaround that was accomplished in a very short period of time.

"With this restatement, and an unqualified opinion from our auditors, we have established a new conservative baseline from which to measure our future growth. This, in turn, has lead to a new commitment throughout the company to our core competencies of community banking, mortgage lending and SBA loan originations. We are energized and confident about our future."

The Restated Numbers

For the year ended December 31, 1998, restated net income was $454,059, or $0.12 per diluted share on 3,941,749 average weighted shares. For the year ended December 31, 1999, restated net income resulted in a loss of $1,646,336, or $0.30 per diluted share on 5,494,217 average weighted shares. Book value per share as of December 31, 1998 was $5.32 and book value per share as of December 31, 1999 was $5.56.

Record First Quarter 2000 Results Expected

"We expect to report first quarter 2000 results within two to three weeks," continued Markel. "As we mentioned in our March 31, 2000 release, we estimate we will earn in the range $0.37 to $0.40 per share. This includes record results from ongoing operations in addition to a one-time gain from the sale of a majority interest in the Goleta National Bank subsidiary, ePacific."

Company Overview

Community West Bancshares is a financial services company with headquarters in Goleta. The company currently has two subsidiaries. Palomar Community Bank has a full service branch located in Escondido, Calif. Goleta National Bank has two full service branches, one in Goleta and one in Ventura, Calif.

It is one of the nation's largest SBA lenders with loan production offices located in Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Oregon, Washington, and Nevada.

The principal going-forward business areas and profit generators of the company are core banking with net interest margins, mortgage lending with fee income and Small Business Administration (SBA) lending with fee income.

Safe Harbor Disclosure

This release contains forward-looking statements that reflect management's current views of future events and operations. These forward-looking statements are based on information currently available to the company as of the date of this release. It is important to note that these forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to, the ability of the company to implement its strategy and expand its lending operations. Furthermore the company will have certain restrictions placed on its operations by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency until it deems that it has substantially complied with the letter agreement signed by the GNB Board of Directors. The company has attempted to incorporate these restrictions into its business plans and it believes that they will not impact the organization's earnings ability into the future.