E Scott Reckard

City National Corp. reported fourth-quarter earnings of $44.4 million, or 87 cents a share, matching its results for the fourth quarter of 2002. The parent of City National Bank said revenue rose 6% for the quarter to $178.5 million, and nonaccrual loans fell to $42.3 million, down 41% from a year earlier. However, its income tax rate rose 3 percentage points because of an adverse ruling by state tax officials, and lending income fell 1% on lower interest rates and commercial loans.

Marjorie Magner, who is overseeing Citigroup Inc.'s integration of California Federal Bank operations, was promoted to chief executive of global consumer operations for Citigroup, replacing Robert Willumstad, who recently became chief operating officer of the parent company. Magner, 54, had been COO of the consumer operations, which include credit cards and home loans and generate more than half of Citigroup's earnings.

UnionBanCal Corp. reported 11.5% higher earnings, beating Wall Street expectations on higher income from fees and dwindling loan losses. The San Francisco-based parent of Union Bank of California said second-quarter profit rose to $144.8 million, or 96 cents a share, from $129.9 million, or 81 cents, in the period a year ago. Analysts had expected 90 cents. The results were released after the market closed. Falling interest rates kept lending income flat at $386.

Wrongful termination is a huge area of labor law, yet law school courses concentrating solely on the topic are rare. There's one this semester in Orange County--at Western State University College of Law. The instructor, Mission Viejo attorney Don Sessions, notes that beginning in the Great Depression and especially since the 1980s, employees have won a number of protections from unfair dismissals.

In a merger of banks serving Chinese Americans, UCBH Holdings Inc. of San Francisco agreed to buy First Continental Bank of Rosemead for about $50 million in stock. UCBH, the parent of United Commercial Bank, has $4.8 billion in assets with 11 branches in Southern California, including four from its purchase of Bank of Canton last year. Privately held First Continental has $334 million in assets and four branches.

The California Department of Corporations said that it had ordered six unlicensed payday-lending stores to quit making the high-cost, short-term loans, its first such actions in Southern California since it began regulating the industry at the beginning of the year. The orders were issued to Anyday's Payday & Loan in Yucaipa, Lancaster-based Cash It Quick, D&J Market in Hesperia, Express Cash Advance in Lake Elsinore, K&W Check Cashing in Gardena and Santa Ana-based Pro Check Cashing.

A federal judge has ordered a Glendale currency trading firm and its president to repay more than $1 million to small investors, many of them from Russia, regulators said. U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson in Los Angeles also fined Fintrex Inc. $4 million and its president, Arman Ovsepyan, $1.3 million, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission said. Fintrex and Ovsepyan were charged in 2001 with marketing illegal foreign currency futures contracts.

A former associate of Santa Barbara investment scam artist Reed Slatkin was sentenced to five months in federal custody and five months of home detention for obstructing a federal probe and lying to investigators. Richard D. McMullin, 39, worked as an assistant in Slatkin's office from the mid-1980s until 1999, handling phone calls from investors, helping to create account statements and researching stocks. U.S. District Judge Margaret Morrow ordered McMullin to pay a $4,000 fine. Assistant U.S.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has filed fraud charges against Oscar Goldman of Redondo Beach, who allegedly misrepresented himself as an expert and lured 98 people into opening trading accounts that he managed. In a lawsuit filed Friday in federal court in Los Angeles, the CFTC said Goldman attracted investors by offering trading courses through his Trader Tech Inc.

St. Louis-based First Banks Inc. said Monday that it had agreed to buy International Bank of California, a small-business lender with six branches in Los Angeles County and one in San Francisco. Terms of the deal weren't announced. Family-owned First Banks has acquired 20 California banks since 1995, making it "among the most active acquirers if not the most active," said Irvine investment banker Ed Carpenter, a consultant to the bank.