PLANS TO OPEN BANK IN SCV WIN STATE OK FACILITY COULD OPEN SOONER THAN EXPECTED, OFFICIALS SAY.

Byline: Nicholas Grudin Staff Writer

VALENCIA - A group of investors planning to build the valley's only locally centered bank announced Wednesday that it has received preliminary approval from the California Department of Financial Institutions.

With that hurdle cleared, plans for the new Bank of Santa Clarita could progress even faster than initially expected.

``While we must still obtain insurance of our accounts from the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation), this is a milestone for us and pushes forward our timetable for opening the bank,'' said James Hicken, who will be the bank's president and chief executive.

The Bank of Santa Clarita has been a dream of several local business people ever since a former local bank, Valencia Bank and Trust, was bought out in 2002 by Union Bank of California.

When the new bank's blueprint was unveiled in March, officials did not give an exact timeline for opening, but said Wednesday that it could open as soon as this fall.

The new bank is intended to locally concentrate the valley's business community because ``people want to do business with people who make decisions locally,'' Hicken said when the plans were first announced.

``Since the exit of the last locally headquartered bank in Santa Clarita, the number of small businesses in the city has grown to over 4,200,'' Hicken said. ``This provides us with a tremendous opportunity to successfully establish a locally owned, business-oriented financial institution that provides credit and capital to the Santa Clarita marketplace.''

Several prominent local executives are on the bank's board of directors, including Robert King, president of King Bros. Inc.; Marlee Lauffer, a vice president of The Newhall Land and Farming Company; and Thomas Bulger, owner of Scicon Technologies Corp.

The bank headquarters is being built at 27441 Tourney Road, Valencia.

Nicholas Grudin, [phone]

nicholas.grudin(at)dailynews.com