Viejo Bancorp Posts $1 Million Net for Quarter

Viejo Bancorp, holding company for Mission Viejo National Bank, posted first quarter net income of $1 million, nearly as much as the $1.4 million it earned for all of last year and 13 times more than the $78,000 it earned in last year’s first quarter.

The small company, whose bank was one of the biggest money losers among Orange County banks in 1985, continued its profit-making ways while more than doubling its size to $65.1 million in assets at the end of March from $26.9 million a year earlier.

Mortgage banking, which pulled the company out of the red last year, still plays a big role in the company’s profits, said Jack Barnes, Viejo’s president. But business accounts also have boosted earnings as noninterest bearing accounts nearly quadrupled to $24 million at the end of March from $6.6 million a year earlier, Barnes said.