Bank of the West Celebrates 20th Anniversary of Its Pacific Rim Client Appreciation Dinner with Look to the Future

Chief Economist forecast highlights divergence between the U.S. and the rest of the world

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Dec 12, 2014, 10:00 ET

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 12, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Bank of the West celebrated the 20^th anniversary of its Pacific Rim Client Appreciation dinner on Thursday, December 11 in Pasadena, CA. Attended by more than 400 clients – including many Asian immigrant and Asian-American entrepreneurs and business owners who have operations in both in the United States and Asia – the dinner featured a 2015 economic outlook from the bank's Chief Economist Scott Anderson, PhD.

"The global economy is going through a growth divergence that breaks the mold in place since 2008," said Anderson. "Emerging market economies that have been growth leaders throughout the recent economic expansion are starting to sputter. In contrast, the U.S. economy has bucked the global trend, ramping up production and economic growth over the summer. In 2015 we can expect the U.S. consumer to come out of their shell and spend at a pace closer to historical norms in prior expansions."

Anderson expects the global growth divergence between the U.S. and the rest of the world to become more apparent in 2015, adding, "The changing cross-currents in the global economy will have significant implications for investment portfolios, the U.S. dollar, oil prices, and interest rates in the year ahead."

Michael Shepherd, Bank of the West's chairman and CEO along with Yukinori Nishio, executive vice president and head of the bank's Pacific Rim Banking Division, were also in attendance to meet with the clients, many of whom have portfolios highly concentrated in the wholesale trade and manufacturing sectors.

"Bank of the West has provided high quality products and exceptional service to our customers throughout our 140 year history," said Nishio. "We've held this client appreciation dinner for the past 20 years as a token of our appreciation of the trust our clients place in us to help them succeed financially. We remain committed to offering the expertise and service that our Pacific Rim clients have come to expect from us in achieving their goals."

About the Pacific Rim Banking Division at Bank of the West

Through Bank of the West's Pacific Rim Banking Division, Asian and Asian‐American individuals and businesses are offered a full range of business, corporate, personal and international banking services by 180 bilingual relationship managers who focus on the Pacific Rim. In addition to English, they conduct business in-language, including Mandarin, Cantonese, Taiwanese, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese. Through representative banking offices in Chicago and New York and corporate banking offices in San Francisco, San Jose, Los Angeles, and Portland the bank's clients, who may have operations in the United States and Asia, can access credit and deposit services – including cash management, foreign exchange, trade finance and other banking services.

To serve a growing number of U.S. subsidiaries of Asian‐based companies, Bank of the West operates representative offices in Tokyo and Taipei. In tandem with the Network Business Development Desk of BNP Paribas China which has branches in Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin, Guangzhou and a representative in Chengdu – Bank of the West can personally respond to clients in both the East and the West.

About Bank of the West:

Bank of the West is a regional financial services company chartered in California and headquartered in San Francisco with $69 billion in assets. Founded in 1874, Bank of the West provides a wide range of personal, commercial, wealth management and international banking services through more than 650 offices in 23 states and the internet (bankofthewest.com). Bank of the West is a subsidiary of BNP Paribas, which has a presence in 75 countries with 180,000 employees.

For more economic commentary from Scott Anderson, visit blog.bankofthewest.com

Economic and market forecasts reflect subjective judgments and assumptions, and unexpected events may occur. Therefore, there can be no assurance that developments will transpire as forecasted.

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SOURCE Bank of the West