October 4, 2022

River City Bank donates $10,000 to Sacramento Steps Forward

Donation supports regional systems to prevent homelessness

River City Bank presenting a donation check to Sacramento Steps Forward

“Thank you to River City Bank for this generous contribution and for recognizing Sacramento Steps Forward’s work on a comprehensive approach to end homelessness. Homelessness is truly a humanitarian crisis. It touches all of us – from the unimaginable hardships for our unhoused community to the impacts suffered by nearby neighborhoods, businesses, and the community,” said Lisa Bates, CEO of Sacramento Steps Forward. “We are grateful for this investment and the direct impact it will have on systemic solutions in Sacramento.”

River City Bank presented the donation check to Lisa and the SSF executive team members during its client appreciation reception, which was held on September 21, 2022.

As part of the event tradition, River City Bank recognizes and makes a charitable contribution to one of our non-profit clients. River City Bank employees had the challenging, yet rewarding, job of choosing the donation recipient from many charitable organizations with compelling missions.

About Sacramento Steps Forward

Sacramento Steps Forward is a private, non-profit 501(c)(3) organization serving the Sacramento region leading multi-sector, system-level change to compassionately end homelessness where our vision is an equitable community where everyone has a safe place to call home. Sacramento Steps Forward is also the lead agency for the Sacramento City and County Continuum of Care. For more information about Sacramento Steps Forward, visit SacramentoStepsForward.com.

September 7, 2022

Kelly Foundation awards $100,000 grant to Saint John’s Program for Real Change

Donation supports families seeking to end the cycle of poverty

SACRAMENTO, CAThe Kelly Foundation awarded $100,000 to Saint John’s Program for Real Change, an organization that operates the largest shelter for women and children experiencing homelessness in the Sacramento region. The donation will go towards building strong family support structures leading to generational independence and less homelessness.

“Saint John’s directly impacts the lives of women and children desperate for change, and we are excited to partner with an organization that helps the community thrive one life at a time,” said Shawn Kelly Devlin, Chairman of the Board of the Kelly Foundation and of River City Bank. “We’re confident this donation will support families in need to become self-sufficient after experiencing such challenging circumstances.”

“We are proud to support the women and children of the Saint John’s Program for Real Change and respect their ambition to better their lives after undergoing detrimental situations,” said Steve Fleming, President and CEO of River City Bank.

Members from River City Bank and the Kelly Foundation present a check to the Saint John’s leadership team
Members from River City Bank and the Kelly Foundation present a check to the Saint John’s leadership team

The Kelly Foundation supports health and human services, education, culture, environment, and civic improvement through its funding. During the Foundation’s 2022 fiscal year, approximately $850,000 in grants were provided to organizations that support the Sacramento region. Since merging with the RCB Foundation in 2009, the Kelly Foundation, of which River City Bank remains a major contributor, focuses on giving back to the greater Sacramento region through charitable donations.

For more information about the Kelly Foundation, please visit KellyFoundationSacramento.org. For more information about Saint John’s Program for Real Change, visit SaintJohnsProgram.org.

About the Kelly Foundation

The Kelly Broadcasting Company’s KCRA-TV (Sacramento-Stockton-Modest, CA) went on the air on Sept. 5, 1955, and the owners of the Kelly Broadcasting Company established the Kelly Foundation in December 1988 as a formal vehicle for structuring charitable contributions. The Kelly family sold KCRA-TV in 1999 and have continued the Kelly Foundation ever since. In 2009, the River City Bank Foundation merged with the Kelly Foundation, and some executives of the Bank currently serve on the Foundation’s Board. Jon S. Kelly founded River City Bank in 1973 and his daughter, Shawn Kelly Devlin, currently serves as President and Chairman of the Board. The Kelly Foundation is an expression of the importance the Kelly family places on being a good neighbor and citizen in regions where they do business. For more information on the Kelly Foundation, please visit KellyFoundationSacramento.org or call (916) 978-4892.

About Saint John’s Program for Real Change

Since 1985 Saint John’s Program for Real Change has provided more than 30,000 homeless women and children with the essential tools to rise above their circumstances and make REAL, transformative change in their lives. Operating the largest shelter in the Sacramento Region, Saint John’s Program is the one focused exclusively on women and children–the most vulnerable and rapidly growing segment of the homeless population in our region and nationwide. Dedicated to the eradication of homelessness, this 18-month comprehensive program includes mental health therapy, alcohol and drug counseling, parenting education, high school diploma preparation and attainment, budgeting classes, healthy relationship training and a proprietary Employment Training Program.  Accommodating over 700 clients and their children each year with three levels of increasingly independent housing, 96% of Saint John’s Employment Training Program graduates secure unsubsidized employment, a crucial step in their journeys to self-sustainability.

July 22, 2022

River City Bank Reports a Quarterly Cash Dividend on Common Shares

SACRAMENTO, CA Steve Fleming, president and chief executive officer of River City Bank (the Bank), announced that the Bank’s board of directors has approved, in connection with the Bank’s recently reported net income of $8.9 million or $5.98 diluted earnings per share for the quarter ending June 30, 2022, a cash dividend of $0.33 per common share to shareholders of record as of August 2, 2022, and payable on August 16, 2022.

July 20, 2022

River City Bank Reports Net Income of $8.9 Million for the Second Quarter of 2022 and $25.3 Million Year to Date

SACRAMENTO, CA — River City Bank (the Bank) reported net income of $8.9 million, or $5.98 per diluted share, for the quarter ending June 30, 2022, which compares favorably to the $7.3 million, or $4.97 per diluted share, for the same period in 2021.  Net income was $25.3 million or $17.08 per diluted share for the six months ending June 30, 2022, which compares favorably to the $23.0 million or $15.59 per diluted share for the six months ending June 30, 2021. Significant items impacting quarterly net income for June 30, 2022 and 2021 include the following:

  • Higher loan balances – Average loan outstandings were $353 million higher than the prior year quarter, thereby increasing net interest income.
  • The provision for loan losses for the current quarter of $1.25 million was less than the $2.5 million for the prior year quarter.
  • During the current quarter, the Bank recognized a gain of $728,000 on the sale of an office building that was no longer in use.
  • The Bank recorded an elevated level of prepayment premium income on commercial real estate loans that paid off prior to their maturity dates of $1.3 million for the quarter ending June 30, 2021 compared to only $877,000 for the current quarter.
  • The Bank recognized a mark to market loss on interest rate swap contracts of $3 million during the second quarter of 2021.
  • Deferred loan fee income associated with Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans was lower in the current quarter with $253,000 and $1.4 million for the quarters ending June 30, 2022 and 2021, respectively.
  • The Bank recognized a $3.9 million loss in the current quarter on the sale of $34 million of available for sale corporate bonds yielding only 0.95% and reinvested the proceeds in 1-year U.S. Treasuries yielding 2.87%.

“After a slow-start in the first quarter, we are pleased with the $239 million of loan growth during the first half of the year (after excluding the $30 million reduction in PPP loans),” said Steve Fleming, president and chief executive officer of River City Bank.  “Our asset quality remains strong with virtually no delinquencies or non-performing loans, however, we remain cautious about the impact to the office segment of commercial real estate due to the reduction in demand as employers provide work-from-home opportunities.”

“Operational efficiency remains a core competency for the Bank, as evidenced by our 27 percent efficiency ratio after excluding the interest rate swap mark-to-market gain of $7 million for the six month period ending June 30, 2022” said Anker Christensen, chief financial officer of River City Bank.

“Our focus on managing expenses continues to be evident by our continued low efficiency ratio and our total non-interest expense remains relatively unchanged from the prior period.”

Shareholders’ equity for River City Bank on June 30, 2022 increased $19 million to $327 million, when compared to the $308 million as of December 31, 2021. The increase was driven by current year retained earnings, partially offset by a $6.5 million decrease in accumulated other comprehensive income as the increase in short and medium-term interest rates resulted in unrealized losses in the Bank’s investment securities portfolio. The Bank’s capital ratio remains well above the regulatory definition for being Well Capitalized with a Tier 1 Leverage Ratio of 9.1% as of June 30, 2022.

July 11, 2022

2022 Business Outlook

Crowd shot at Business Outlook event
Crowd shot at Business Outlook event

After a two-year hiatus, it was good to see familiar faces in the crowd at River City Bank’s 2022 Business Outlook event at the newly renovated Sacramento Convention Center. With a lineup that included dynamic speakers, Jess Bushey, Market Vice President at Roth Staffing, and leading economist Christopher Thornberg, Ph.D. founder of Beacon Economics LLC, attendees got an insider’s view on recruiting best practices and what might be in store for the economy.

Jess spoke on winning strategies for hiring top talent in a competitive environment. She also touched on adjusting expectations for new candidates while creating a company culture that retains current employees. Dr. Thornberg taught a master class in interest rates, inflation, and their effects on the U.S. and local economies. Notably, he spoke on the substantial gap between a dominant media and political narrative and the reality of financial and real estate markets, inflation, and interest rates, among other related topics.

 

As always, River City Bank’s Business Outlook event provided a place to connect, share ideas, and be inspired by one another. We look forward to another successful event in 2023.

Collage of people participating at the Business Outlook 2022 event
July 11, 2022

Meet Barry Keane

Barry Keane
Barry Keane

Barry Keane is a recent addition to River City Bank’s Clean Energy Division.  As a Business Development Officer, Barry is tasked with sourcing project finance opportunities for the bank’s expanding clean energy portfolio. Barry, an Oakland native, talks to us about family traditions, the Raiders, and all things Harry Potter.

Barry with his father, Bill, and sister, Cat.
Barry with his father, Bill, and sister, Cat.
Barry with his wife, Natalie.
Barry with his wife, Natalie.
April 22, 2022

River City Bank Reports a Quarterly Cash Dividend on Common Shares

SACRAMENTO, CASteve Fleming, president and chief executive officer of River City Bank (the Bank), announced that the Bank’s board of directors has approved, in connection with the Bank’s recently reported net income of $16.4 million or $11.10 diluted earnings per share for the quarter ending March 31, 2022, a cash dividend of $0.33 per common share to shareholders of record as of May 3, 2022, and payable on May 17, 2022.

April 20, 2022

River City Bank Reports 2022 First Quarter Net Income of $16.4 Million

SACRAMENTO, CA — River City Bank (the Bank) reported net income of $16.4 million, or $11.10 per diluted share, for the quarter ending March 31, 2022, which compares favorably to the $15.6 million, or $10.62 per diluted share, for the same period in 2021.  The improved net income versus the prior year quarter was driven by:

  • $7.0 million in mark-to-market gains on interest rate swaps for the quarter ending March 31, 2022 compared to a gain of $6.8 million for the prior year quarter. The Bank entered into these swap agreements to hedge the interest rate risk associated with its ongoing origination of medium-term fixed rate commercial real estate loans. If the Bank had been able to obtain hedge accounting treatment for these swaps, the mark-to-market gains would not have been recognized for the quarter as they were offset by losses on the loans being hedged.
  • $6.9 million gain on sale derived from a true-up related to earn-out provisions from the sale of an investment in the prior year quarter. The initial gain recognized on the sale of this investment in the prior year quarter was $3.4 million.
  • Higher loan balances – Average loans outstandings, excluding PPP loans, were $455 million higher than the prior year, thereby increasing net interest income.

Partially mitigating the above were the following factors:

  • $443,000 deferred loan fees earned on Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans for which the outstanding loan balances were forgiven by the Small Business Administration in the current quarter compared to $2.0 million recognized in the prior year quarter.
  • $6.4 million provision for loan losses during the current quarter compared to the $3.0 million provision for loan losses recorded in the prior year quarter.

Our asset quality remains strong with virtually no delinquencies or non-performing loans, however, we made a sizeable provision to our loan loss reserve in the first quarter due to concerns with rising inflation, the war in Ukraine, and potential impacts to the office segment of commercial real estate from a reduction in demand as employers continue to provide work-from-home opportunities,” said Steve Fleming, president and chief executive officer.  “Nevertheless, we believe we can prudently continue to grow our loan portfolio as we focus more on commercial loans secured by multi-family and industrial properties, as well as expanding our geographic footprint to other western states outside of California.”

“Operational efficiency remains a core competency for the Bank, as evidenced by our 33 percent efficiency ratio   after excluding the swap MTM and investment gains noted above for the quarter ending March 31, 2022” said Anker Christensen, chief financial officer of River City Bank. “Our total non-interest expense has remained stable compared to the prior year period as evidence of our focus on managing expenses.”

Shareholders’ equity for River City Bank on March 31, 2022 increased $5.4 million to $313 million, when compared to the $308 million as of December 31, 2021. The increase was driven by current year retained earnings, offset somewhat by an $11.1 million decrease in accumulated other comprehensive income as the increase in short and medium-term interest rates resulted in unrealized losses in the Bank’s investment securities portfolio. The Bank’s capital ratio remains well above the regulatory definition for being Well Capitalized with a Tier 1 Leverage Ratio of 9.0% as of March 31, 2022.

March 31, 2022

Client Profile: Sibros Technologies, Inc.

Sibros Tech Logo
Sibros Tech Logo

Imagine your car receiving software updates and remedying safety recalls without you stepping foot in a dealership. Sibros has developed technology that allows for just that.

Car manufacturers update in-vehicle software over the air rather than requiring trips to a dealership. Over the past few years, it has seen rapid growth as demand for its Deep Connected Platform (DCP), which enables software updates and data management, has increased. Sibros and its DCP solution have attracted the attention of tech and auto companies around the world, resulting in a recent $70 million Series B funding round.

We had the opportunity to connect with Sibros CEO and co-founder, Hemant Sikaria, about meeting global demand for its technology while trying to achieve its goal of creating a cleaner, safer future for the automotive industry.

What inspired you to launch Sibros?

Sibros was born out of the frustration of software-related vehicle recalls. I was an early engineer at Tesla, helping to build their over-the-air (OTA) software update systems. During this time, I experienced multiple software-related recalls for my (non-Tesla) vehicle that required me to bring it back to the dealer to fix. The dealership was too busy to service my car right away, leaving me no choice but to drive a vehicle that wasn’t safe – and we had several of these models in my family. From my experience at Tesla, I knew there was a better way, and I wanted to make that a reality for every vehicle, everywhere in the world. That was when the idea of Sibros was born.

Please give us a little background on Sibros Technologies, Inc.

I co-founded Sibros along with Mayank Sikaria, who previously managed the Battery Management System software for electric vehicle (EV) maker, Faraday Future. Moneta Ventures (based in Folsom, CA) made our initial seed investment, later followed by a Series A led by Nexus Venture Partners. On January 25, 2022, we announced our Series B funding round of $70M led by Energy Impact Partners, with participation from Fontinalis Partners, Google, Iron Pillar, and Qualcomm Ventures – along with our existing investors Moneta and Nexus.

Hemant-and-Mayanik-Sikaria-1024x722

What is the Sibros Deep Connected Platform (DCP), and what makes this technology essential to consumers and Original Equipment Manufacturers?

DCP is an embedded software and data management platform that transforms any vehicle into an updatable supercomputer on wheels. DCP is a vertically-integrated, hardware-agnostic solution that meets the highest safety, cybersecurity, and data protection standards and is the only embedded firmware vehicle-to-cloud system that is 95% product and 5% integration.

From a consumer perspective, DCP has the potential to ease their entire vehicle ownership experience, from purchasing a car to preventative maintenance, future upgrades, and selling. Imagine having to visit your cell provider every time your phone needs an update. It simply wouldn’t be practical, and it isn’t practical for cars either, but as vehicles become even more dependent on software, this is the reality we are looking at. Sibros is working to change that reality. So, when a vehicle needs an update, all the owner has to do is press a button rather than drive it to their local dealer.

For Original Equipment Manufacturers, DCP is even more essential.  Manufacturers will see reduced recall costs due to vehicle-wide and full lifecycle over-the-air software updates. Real-time smart data collection and remote diagnostics of every electronic control unit enables manufacturers to proactively identify faults. They’ll have access to full-vehicle data from R&D to decommissioning, which provides efficiency, safety, user preference, and functionality insights to improve future designs and stay ahead of industry trends. In addition, Sibros lowers cloud storage costs with DCPs superior levels of data compression and edge filtering.

The Sibros Deep Connected Platform is used in all types of vehicles – trucks, electric bikes, scooters. What’s next for Sibros?

Our primary goal today is to bring a brighter, cleaner, and safer future to the automotive industry through comprehensive vehicle connectivity at a global scale for any automaker. We have been surprised by how so many consumers are still bringing their vehicles into a dealership to install a software fix for a defect whereby a technician plugs in a dongle to apply the patch. This is akin to bringing your iPhone into the Apple Store for its’ iOS update.

We seek to be the industry standard platform that makes cars updatable like smartphones, regardless of the problem it is experiencing – and more importantly, provide automakers with the opportunity to sense these problems before they even happen. Our technology is extensible and can be applied to other industry domains as well, including industrial machinery, surgical devices, marine or aviation – basically any physical asset that is software-defined, connected to the cloud, and can be maintained, optimized, and improved through IoT-based software management, OTA updates, and data analytics.

What advice would you give someone who is seriously considering branching out on their own? What are the lessons you’ve learned?

If you want to build a truly scalable product or IP-based company, we have learned that you must stay true to your product and core values. Unfortunately, it is very easy to get distracted from this goal. Many great software products started from service-based businesses that solved an internal or client problem and productized their creation (e.g., Freshbooks or Basecamp). Alternatively, and particularly in our field, many consulting companies market their services as ‘products’ which end up being billable’ bodies.’

A big lesson we have learned is that to achieve our goals and scale our product to running on 100M vehicles by 2025, we must maintain the integrity of both our product and company. In the past, we have come across lucrative opportunities to provide services not aligned with our roadmap and vision and have consistently turned these down. When you deviate from your core values, you inevitably divide your resources to accommodate ideas outside of your primary purpose. This often leads to deficiencies, cut corners, and sub-par results. From day one, we have built a team rooted in honesty, integrity, transparency, mutual respect, strong work ethic, and kindness. In addition, we take great care in our customer interactions, as they are the heart of what we do.

At Sibros, we follow one clear path and collectively focus our efforts on enacting high-quality processes, automating workflows, questioning methods and tools, and learning from our decisions. The result is a truly amazing product that continues to exceed expectations and redefine the boundaries of possibility.

March 31, 2022

Yolo Food Bank: Serving Yolo County Communities Since 1970

Mother and daughter at the Yolo Food Bank distribution center
Yolo Food Bank Distribution Center

Back in 1970, Yolo Food Bank was strictly a volunteer program. In 1988, it hired its first employees and officially became a food bank. Fast forward to 2022, Yolo Food Bank now distributes nearly 12 million pounds of food annually and has become a lifeline to the communities it serves. Recently, we spoke with Maria Segoviano, Yolo Food Bank’s Director of Communications. She shared with us how Yolo Food Bank, now the only food bank in the County, had doubled its efforts during the pandemic and how those efforts continue as the lingering effects of COVID remain.

How is Yolo Food Bank helping with food insecurity and advancing nutrition security?

How has COVID changed Yolo Food Bank and the people it supports?

Thanks to the generosity of donors of funds, food, and time, and the nimbleness of our staff of essential workers, Yolo Food Bank was able to adapt and respond to a three-fold increase in the demand for food assistance in a matter of weeks when COVID hit. A new home delivery program was created and implemented in days, and all food distributions were adapted quickly to meet COVID safety protocols. Pre-COVID, Yolo Food Bank distributed less than six million pounds of food annually – it ended 2020 having recovered, collected, stored, and distributed over 10 million pounds of food to tens of thousands of Yolo County residents.

“Pre-COVID, Yolo Food Bank distributed less than six million pounds of food annually—it ended 2020 having recovered, collected, stored, and distributed over 10 million pounds of food to tens of thousands of Yolo County residents.”

 

Tell us about the “Eat Home Yolo” program that began during the height of the pandemic.

Yolo Food Bank and Community
Yolo deliver truck

Volunteers and donations are essential to the success of the organization. How does one sign up to donate time or money?

Donations of funds and time are Yolo Food Bank’s greatest needs. Yolo Food Bank is more than 90% funded by private philanthropy – every donation is meaningful and deeply necessary to nourish the tens of thousands of struggling families and individuals that Yolo Food Bank supports each month. Last year Yolo Food Bank conducted a study at our “Eat Well Yolo” food distributions countywide and discovered that about 60% of the households we serve receive more than half of their weekly groceries from these food distributions. Furthermore, about 1/5 of food recipients say they receive nearly all or all of their weekly groceries from Yolo Food Bank. Thank you for assisting your neighbors in need!

Donations can be made via yolofoodbank.org/give, and to volunteer, visit yolofoodbank.org/volunteer to get started.