United Security Bancshares (UBFO)

United Security Bancshares was the bank holding company for United Security Bank, a California state-chartered commercial bank headquartered in Fresno. The bank dates to 1987, and the holding company, formed to own it, was organized in the following years. It served the San Joaquin Valley and other parts of central California, an area where agriculture, real estate and small businesses drive much of the economy.

The bank offered business and personal checking and savings accounts, money market accounts and certificates of deposit, along with commercial and industrial loans, real estate mortgages, construction loans, and agricultural and consumer loans. It also provided cash management, wire transfers, online and mobile banking, and interactive teller machines at selected branches. Its customer base consisted of local businesses, professionals and individuals.

The company's common stock traded on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol UBFO. It had a long record of paying cash dividends and, over time, maintained a relatively low-cost deposit base with a significant share of noninterest-bearing deposits. Its size, with total assets of roughly $1.2 billion, placed it among the smaller publicly traded banks in California.

Like many community banks, United Security faced pressure from rising funding costs and regulatory expense in the 2020s, which increased the appeal of combining with another institution to gain scale. Community West Bancshares, the Goleta, California holding company for Community West Bank, whose stock trades on Nasdaq under the symbol CWBC, agreed to acquire United Security in an all-stock transaction.

Under the merger agreement, United Security merged into Community West, with Community West surviving. Each share of United Security common stock was converted into the right to receive 0.4520 shares of Community West common stock, with cash paid in place of fractional shares.

The merger became effective at 12:01 a.m. Pacific time on April 1, 2026. On March 31, 2026, United Security notified Nasdaq that trading should be halted before the market opened on April 1 and that the shares should be removed from listing, and a Form 25 was filed. Community West, as successor, stated that it intended to file a Form 15 to deregister the United Security common stock and suspend its reporting obligations.

The merger took the Nasdaq-listed bank out of public trading and combined two California community banking franchises under a single holding company. Because the transaction was an all-stock exchange, former United Security holders became shareholders of Community West. The Form 25 became effective ten days after filing, and the registration of the old common stock was to be terminated by Form 15.