Affinity Bank
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 12, 2001

Affinity Bank Announces the Purchase of Westcoast Savings & Loan Association

Los Angeles, CA - Affinity Bank (Affinity) and Westcoast Savings and Loan Association (Westcoast) announced today that a stock purchase agreement and an agreement of merger have been signed for Affinity to acquire the outstanding stock of Westcoast. After regulatory approvals, Westcoast will be merged into Affinity and its Pacific Palisades office will continue to serve its customers as a branch of Affinity.

"The acquisition of Westcoast is part of our continuing plan to expand deposit services within Affinity's lending area, "Michael R. McGuire, the Bank's president and CEO announced. "We started originally as a safe place for travelers and busy customers to quickly and easily bank by phone, fax and mail. Nothing will change on that end, but we have been watching the marketplace and people still want the comfort and feel of walk-in branches. We intend to support that desire by increasing the number of our branches within the Southern California area. While we see this acquisition as an opportunity to bring to new customers Affinity's personal approach to banking, we are very impressed by the operation of the Westcoast branch. It is our intenetion to retain the staff in the Pacific Palisades branch, so that Westcoast's depositors will continue to receive the excellent service to which they are accustomed."

Westcoast was incorporated in January 1983 and opend its doors to the public in 1985. Westcoast has on deposit branch in Pacific Palisades with approximately 4,500 accounts and $112 million in deposits at June 30, 2001.

Affinity is a privately held financial institution headquartered in Ventura, California with over $400 million in assets. The Bank specializes in commercial real estate lending, along with CD, Money Market, Savings, Checking accounts and IRA's. Affinity currently has three savings branches, in Ventura, Irvine and San Francisco with deposits totaling $360 million. Affinity also operates five loan production offices - in Ventura, Irvine, San Francisco, Denver, and Portland.

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