EXHIBIT 99.4
[GRAPHIC]
WESTERN BANCORP
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PRESS RELEASE
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Western Bancorp (NASDAQ: WEBC)
0000 Xxxxxxx Xxxxx, Xxxxx 000
Xxxxxxx Xxxxx, Xxxxxxxxxx 00000
Contacts: Xxxxxxx X. Xxxxxx Xxxxxx X. Xxxx
President and Chief Financial Officer
Chief Executive Officer
Phone: 310/000-0000 X 000 949/000-0000
FAX: 310/000-0000 049/000-0000
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE . . . WESTERN BANCORP ANNOUNCES DECLARATION OF ITS REGULAR
QUARTERLY DIVIDEND
May 19, 1999
Newport Beach, California . . . Western Bancorp ("Western") today announced
that the Board of Directors has approved the declaration of a quarterly
dividend of $0.225 per common share payable on June 25, 1999 to shareholders
of record on June 4, 1999. This is the sixth quarterly dividend for Western.
As of March 31, 1999, Western had approximately $2.5 billion in assets in its
two wholly-owned banking subsidiaries: Southern California Bank and Santa Xxxxxx
Bank. Southern California Bank serves southern Los Angeles, Orange and San
Diego Counties with fifteen branches and with its specialized escrow services
and asset based lending. In addition, Southern California Bank, through its PNB
Mortgage division has a residential mortgage origination business with offices
in Irvine, Santa Xxx, Dublin and San Diego, California, and offices in
Washington and Arizona. Santa Xxxxxx Bank serves its clients in Santa Xxxxxx,
Westwood, Malibu, Marina del Xxx, Xxxxxxx Hills, Century City, Encino, Xxxxxx
City, West Hollywood, and Glendale with sixteen branches and its specialized
trust and investment management services.
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Forward-Looking Statements
This press release includes forward-looking statements that involve inherent
risks and uncertainties. Western Bancorp cautions readers that a number of
important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those in
the forward-looking statements. These factors include economic conditions and
competition in the geographic and business areas in which Western Bancorp and
its subsidiaries operate, inflation or deflation, fluctuations in interest
rates, legislation and governmental regulation and the progress of integrating
Santa Xxxxxx Bank, Western Bank, Southern California Bank, the Bank of Los
Angeles and Pacific National Bank.
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