BayCom Corp (BCML): History, Ownership, Mission, How It Works & Makes Money

BayCom Corp (BCML) is a regional bank holding company with total assets of around $2.6 billion as of September 30, 2025-but how does a community-focused institution successfully compete against the national giants? The answer lies in their specialized focus through United Business Bank, which offers a full suite of guaranteed loans like SBA and USDA, a strategy that helped them report a $5.0 million net income for the third quarter of 2025. Plus, the recent 25% increase in their quarterly cash dividend to $0.25 per share signals a strong commitment to shareholder value, so understanding their core mission and revenue mechanics is defintely crucial for assessing their long-term stability.

BayCom Corp (BCML) History

You need to understand where BayCom Corp (BCML) came from to appreciate its current strategy of growth through acquisition. The company's story isn't one of a Silicon Valley startup, but a deliberate move by veteran bankers to build a community-focused institution, which then pivoted to a powerful M&A (Mergers and Acquisitions) machine.

Given Company's Founding Timeline

Year established

The company traces its operational roots to 2004 with the founding of its primary subsidiary, Bay Commercial Bank.

Original location

Operations began in Walnut Creek, California, focusing on serving the business communities within the Bay Area.

Founding team members

The bank was established by experienced bankers, including key founding executives who remain central to the organization:

• George J. Guarini: President and Chief Executive Officer since the bank's inception.
• Janet L. King: Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer since 2004.
• Keary L. Colwell: Senior Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, and Corporate Secretary.

Initial capital/funding

The bank launched after raising defintely sufficient initial capital to meet all regulatory requirements and fund its early lending activities, which is the standard process for securing a new bank charter.

Given Company's Evolution Milestones

Given Company's Transformative Moments

The company's trajectory shifted decisively from a single-location community bank to a multi-state holding company through a few core strategic pivots. This is how they scaled so quickly.

• Shift to Acquisition-Led Growth: The strategic decision, solidified around 2015, to prioritize growth through M&A fundamentally altered the company. This approach allowed for much faster scaling than purely organic expansion.
• Going Public (IPO): Listing on Nasdaq in 2017 was crucial. It provided not just capital but also a public currency-stock-to facilitate larger, stock-based acquisitions.
• Multi-State Expansion: Through a series of acquisitions, including First ULB Corp, Uniti Financial, Grand Mountain Bancshares, and Pacific Enterprise Bancorp, the company expanded its geographic footprint. Today, it operates across California, Washington, New Mexico, and Colorado, which diversifies risk and opportunity.
• 2025 Dividend Increase: A very recent signal of management confidence is the increase in the quarterly cash dividend to $0.25 per share, a 25% jump, announced in late 2025. This move suggests a strong capital position and commitment to shareholder returns.

To understand the principles guiding these decisions, you should review their core philosophy: Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of BayCom Corp (BCML).

BayCom Corp (BCML) Ownership Structure

BayCom Corp's ownership structure is typical for a regional bank holding company, with a majority of control held by institutional investors, meaning its strategic direction is heavily influenced by major financial firms.

This distribution of shares, where institutional money dominates, suggests a focus on consistent financial performance and capital management, which you can explore further in Breaking Down BayCom Corp (BCML) Financial Health: Key Insights for Investors.

BayCom Corp's Current Status

BayCom Corp is a publicly traded company, listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol BCML. This status makes its financial and operational data transparent and subject to SEC regulation.

The company operates primarily as the holding entity for United Business Bank, a community-focused institution specializing in commercial banking solutions. As of November 2025, BayCom Corp reported total assets of approximately $2.6 billion, maintaining a stable position in the regional banking sector.

Its public status means that while day-to-day operations are managed by the executive team, major decisions-like the approval of the quarterly cash dividend, which was recently increased to $0.25 per share in Q3 2025-are ultimately overseen by a board accountable to a diverse shareholder base.

BayCom Corp's Ownership Breakdown

The company's control is highly concentrated among large investment funds, which hold the majority of outstanding shares. This structure means institutional votes carry significant weight in shareholder meetings and corporate governance matters.

Here's the quick math on who owns BayCom Corp (BCML) as of late 2025, showing where the decision-making power resides:

The fact that over 63% is held by institutions, including firms like BlackRock, means their research and investment theses are defintely driving the stock's valuation.

BayCom Corp's Leadership

The company's strategy is steered by a seasoned leadership team with deep roots in the banking industry, ensuring operational stability and a focus on community banking principles.

The average tenure for the management team is a strong 8.8 years, suggesting experienced hands are on the wheel.

• George J. Guarini: President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Appointed in January 2017, he has a tenure of over 8.8 years. His total yearly compensation is approximately $1.15 million, aligning his interests with performance.
• Lloyd W. Kendall Jr.: Chairman of the Board and Founding Director. He provides long-term strategic oversight and continuity.
• Keary L. Colwell: Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Colwell has served as CFO since the bank's inception in 2004, providing crucial financial stability.
• Janet L. King: Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer (COO). King has also been with the bank since 2004, overseeing all aspects of operations.

This core team's long tenure and significant insider ownership-even at 7.59%-show a clear alignment between management's success and shareholder returns.

BayCom Corp (BCML) Mission and Values

BayCom Corp's core purpose is a three-part commitment balancing shareholder returns, client service, and employee satisfaction, which is the defintely the mark of a sound community bank. This focus on local impact and financial performance is what drives their $2.6 billion in total assets as of September 30, 2025.

Given Company's Core Purpose

The company, operating primarily through United Business Bank, grounds its strategy in three non-negotiable pillars. You can't just focus on profit; you have to serve the ecosystem that creates it.

Official mission statement

BayCom Corp's mission, executed by United Business Bank, is an explicit contract with its three main stakeholders. It's a clear mandate for how every transaction should be handled.

• Conduct business with an eye toward speed of execution on behalf of its clients.
• Cultivate pride and appreciation on behalf of its employees.
• Deliver impressive financial performance on behalf of its investors.

Vision statement

While the company doesn't publish a separate, single-line vision, its core purpose acts as a long-term aspiration: to be the most knowledgeable and professional financial partner for businesses in its operating regions. This means moving beyond transactional banking to become an extension of your leadership team.

• Be the bank that provides clients access to decision-makers.
• Bring knowledge to the table to advance client business goals.
• Foster economic growth and stability within its service markets.

Here's the quick math: The focus on local business lending is clear, with total loans reaching $2.04 billion as of Q3 2025, primarily serving small and mid-sized companies in states like California, Washington, and Colorado.

Given Company slogan/tagline

The company does not use a short, catchy slogan, preferring to let its mission and core values speak for themselves. The operational focus, however, is on being a relationship-driven institution.

• The operative tagline is the implied promise: 'Knowledgeable and professional service.'

This community-first approach isn't just talk; it's a measurable commitment under the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). United Business Bank has committed $74.2 Million in Community Development Loan Commitments and $21.48 Million in Community Development Investments to support its communities. That's a real number impacting real people, supporting over 2,154 affordable housing units. If you want to dive deeper into the ownership structure behind these decisions, you can read Exploring BayCom Corp (BCML) Investor Profile: Who's Buying and Why?

BayCom Corp (BCML) How It Works

BayCom Corp operates as a bank holding company, primarily generating revenue through its subsidiary, United Business Bank, by managing the interest rate spread between the funds it lends out and the interest it pays on deposits. The core business is traditional community banking, focusing on relationship-driven lending and deposit services to small-to-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and individuals across its Western U.S. footprint.

The company's main income stream is net interest income, which hit $23.41 million in the third quarter of 2025, complemented by non-interest income from service charges and fees. Honestly, it's a classic bank model, but executed with a strong regional focus.

BayCom Corp's Product/Service Portfolio

BayCom Corp's Operational Framework

The operational framework is built on a community banking model, which means local decision-making and strong personal relationships drive value. As of September 30, 2025, BayCom Corp operated through a network of 34 full-service banking branches across five states: California, Nevada, Washington, New Mexico, and Colorado.

Here's the quick math on their scale: Total assets stood at approximately $2.6 billion, supporting a loan portfolio of roughly $2.04 billion as of the third quarter of 2025. This size lets them maintain a personal touch while still achieving some economies of scale.

• Local Underwriting: Loan decisions are often made locally, using knowledge of regional economic conditions to manage risk.
• Digital Integration: Operations are supported by digital platforms for customer convenience, but the branch network remains central.
• Credit Risk Management: The provision for credit losses was $2.97 million in Q3 2025, reflecting a proactive approach to managing potential loan losses, which is defintely a key focus in the current economic environment.

BayCom Corp's Strategic Advantages

BayCom Corp competes effectively against larger national banks by leveraging a few clear strategic advantages that speak directly to its target market. This is where you see the real value proposition for stakeholders.

• Community Focus and Tailored Service: Deep local market knowledge allows the subsidiary, United Business Bank, to offer customized financial solutions, particularly to SMEs that feel underserved by bigger institutions.
• Acquisition-Driven Growth: A core strategy is the strategic acquisition and integration of smaller community banks, which expands their geographic footprint and helps achieve greater operational efficiencies without sacrificing the community-centric model.
• Asset Quality Management: While nonaccrual loans did increase to $13.5 million at September 30, 2025, the allowance for credit losses for loans was a robust $20.8 million, or 1.02% of total loans, showing a commitment to reserving against potential issues.

For a deeper dive into how these numbers impact long-term stability, you should check out Breaking Down BayCom Corp (BCML) Financial Health: Key Insights for Investors.

BayCom Corp (BCML) How It Makes Money

BayCom Corp, through its subsidiary United Business Bank, primarily makes money the way most community banks do: by borrowing funds from depositors at a lower interest rate and lending that money out to businesses and individuals at a higher rate. This difference is their core profit engine, known as the net interest margin.

BayCom Corp's Revenue Breakdown

For the third quarter of 2025, BayCom Corp generated total revenue of approximately $25.66 million, demonstrating a heavy reliance on traditional lending activities. The breakdown clearly shows where the financial focus lies-it's a classic spread-based banking model.

Net Interest Income (NII) for Q3 2025 was $23.41 million, an increase of 2.4% from the same quarter in the previous year, which shows their core lending business is still growing. Noninterest income, which includes fees from services and gains on securities, was $2.25 million, a decrease from the prior year, mainly due to lower gains on equity securities. This means BayCom Corp is defintely a traditional lender first, with fee income playing a smaller, though still important, supporting role.

Business Economics

The economics of BayCom Corp revolve around managing the cost of funds versus the yield on its assets (loans and investments). The key metric here is the net interest margin (NIM), which tells you how efficiently they are making money from their lending spread.

• Net Interest Margin (NIM): The annualized NIM for Q3 2025 was 3.72%. This is a slight dip from the preceding quarter's 3.77%, reflecting the pressure of higher funding costs-what they pay depositors-in the current economic environment.
• Loan Portfolio Growth: The company focuses on commercial banking, with total loans (net of deferred fees) reaching $2.0 billion as of September 30, 2025. This portfolio grew by $42.1 million from the prior quarter, driven by $110.0 million in new loan originations.
• Credit Risk Management: A critical cost is the provision for credit losses (money set aside for loans that may default). This provision increased significantly to $3.0 million in Q3 2025, up from just $203,000 in the prior quarter, which indicates a proactive, albeit costly, move to bolster reserves against potential economic weakness.

The business model is straightforward: grow the loan book while keeping the NIM healthy. You can read more about the strategic direction in the Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of BayCom Corp (BCML).

BayCom Corp's Financial Performance

Looking at the third quarter of 2025 gives you a clear picture of the business's health and the near-term risks. While the core lending business is stable, profitability is under pressure from credit provisioning.

• Net Income: Net income for Q3 2025 was $5.0 million, a 21.3% decrease from the prior quarter. Here's the quick math: the sharp increase in the provision for credit losses was the primary drag on quarterly earnings.
• Earnings Per Share (EPS): Diluted earnings per common share for the quarter were $0.46, down from $0.58 in Q2 2025.
• Return on Assets (ROAA): The annualized ROAA was 0.75% for Q3 2025, a drop from 0.98% in the preceding quarter. This metric shows that the company is generating less profit for every dollar of assets it holds.
• Balance Sheet Strength: Total assets remained steady at $2.6 billion as of September 30, 2025, and shareholders' equity increased to $334.3 million. The company remains a well-capitalized institution for regulatory purposes.

What this estimate hides is the one-time impact of the provision increase; strip that out, and the underlying NII growth is solid. Still, the market is watching that credit quality closely.

BayCom Corp (BCML) Market Position & Future Outlook

BayCom Corp (BCML) maintains a solid, albeit smaller, position within the regional banking sector, leveraging its strategic acquisition model for growth and a strong capital base to navigate volatility. While net income for the first nine months of 2025 was $17.1 million, a slight dip from the prior year, the company's total assets remain stable at $2.60 billion as of September 30, 2025, signaling resilience in a challenging rate environment.

Competitive Landscape

In the regional bank space, BayCom Corp competes against institutions of similar size that often have a more concentrated geographic or demographic focus. The company's relative market share, when viewed against its immediate peer group of banks with assets between $2.3 billion and $3.3 billion, is approximately 22.8% of the combined total assets, positioning it squarely in the middle of this cohort.

Opportunities & Challenges

The company's near-term outlook is a balance of capturing growth in new markets and managing credit quality in its existing, highly concentrated loan portfolio.

Industry Position

BayCom Corp's strategy is to be the premier commercial banking franchise in its multi-state footprint, and its position is anchored by its ability to execute on mergers and acquisitions (M&A). You can see the foundation of this approach in the company's Mission Statement, Vision, & Core Values of BayCom Corp (BCML).

• Maintain a 'well-capitalized' status, with a Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) ratio of 14.25% as of September 30, 2025, which is a key competitive strength in a regulatory-heavy industry.
• The company's loan portfolio totaled $2.04 billion as of Q3 2025, reflecting a disciplined, yet growing, lending operation focused on small and mid-sized businesses.
• Its commitment to shareholder value is defintely clear, with the quarterly cash dividend increasing by 25% to $0.25 per share in August 2025.
• The primary challenge is managing the elevated nonaccrual loans, which totaled $13.5 million at the end of Q3 2025, up from $9.2 million at the end of 2024, requiring tight credit control.

Here's the quick math: the company's Q3 2025 annualized return on average assets (ROAA) was 0.75%, a drop from 0.94% a year ago, which means they are generating less profit per dollar of assets, a trend they need to reverse through operational efficiencies and loan growth.