Community West Bancshares Engages Arthur Andersen as Auditors.

Business Editors

GOLETA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 18, 2000

Community West Bancshares today announced that it has engaged the audit services of Arthur Andersen LLP for the year 2000.

William Peeples, chairman of the Community West Bancshares audit committee, stated: "We are extremely pleased to announce our selection of Arthur Andersen as our auditors. They have impressed us as an organization that has the expertise to deal with the many complex issues that multi-faceted financial institutions face.

"Arthur Andersen is one of the premier accounting firms in the United States, and it audits several of the largest financial institutions in the Santa Barbara, California, area. We look forward to a long and productive relationship."

While Deloitte & Touche LLP has been the company's auditors since its founding, it is felt that Arthur Andersen is better positioned to meet the company's changing needs into the future. As required by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company has filed a Form 8-K disclosing its change in accounting firms along with its reasoning as stated here.

On May 1, 2000, the company announced record earnings for the three months ended March 31, 2000, of $2,677,000, or $.44 per share, fully diluted. Earnings for the comparable period for 1999 were $454,000, or $.08 per share, as restated. These results will be included in the company's first-quarter financial statements on Form 10-Q. As a result of the change in auditors, the company has filed for an automatic extension and expects to file its 10-Q on May 22, 2000.

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 ("GNB") 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.