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CoBiz Financial in Denver has named new leadership at its banking franchise. Jonathan Lorenz has been named chairman of the board and Scott Page will replace Lorenz as chief executive at Colorado Business Bank and Arizona Business Bank.
September 10
CoBiz Financial in Denver plans to shutter its investment banking unit by the end of March.
The $3.1 billion-asset company said in a brief statement Thursday that it wants to focus more on "fee-based business lines with recurring revenue." CoBiz also said that increased compliance costs were playing a role in its decision to close Green Manning & Bunch, the investment bank it bought in July 2001 for nearly $4.8 million in cash and stock.
CoBiz noted in its annual report that Green Manning & Bunch's income jumped 81% in 2014 from a year earlier, to $4.2 million. The unit's gains were uneven; its income totaled just $126,000 in the fourth quarter, down 95% from nearly $2.4 million a quarter earlier.
Overall, CoBiz profit rose 6.3% in 2014 compared to a year earlier, to $28.4 million. For the fourth quarter, the company's profit fell 4.4% from a year earlier, to $6.8 million.
Green Manning & Bunch said on its website that it had brokered deals with an aggregate value of more than $8 billion since 1988.
Calls to Lyne Andrich, chief financial officer at CoBiz, and Warren Henson, Green Manning & Bunch's president and senior managing partner, were not returned.
