What is Bank of the West?

Bank of the West is an FDIC-insured bank that began in 1874 as Farmers National Gold Bank, located in San Jose, California. The name changed to First National Bank of San Jose in 1880 and to Bank of the West in 1979.

Bank of the West has been affiliated with the financial organization BNP Paribas since 1980, and in 2001 it became a wholly-owned subsidiary. Bank of the West has customers in all 50 states and has more than 700 branch banking and commercial office locations in 19 Western and Midwestern states. The bank's assets exceed $62 billion, as of March 2015.