Gender Male
In 1969 our founder and first CEO James Engbarth, a longtime banking veteran, gathered a small group of trusted partners and opened Santiago Commercial Bank at 1st and El Camino in Tustin, CA. The new commercial bank promised to help the business and community development of the growing Orange County area. To this day, we are the oldest bank
headquartered in Orange County. By 1980, after a decade of steady growth, Santiago Bank officially changed its name to Sunwest Bank, a name that emphasized its growing horizons as an institution.
