Comptroller closes locally based bank and its affiliate

First Heritage Bank, a Newport Beach-based bank with three branches in Southern California, has been closed by the federal government due to being “critically undercapitalized,” according to a news release from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

The comptroller closed the bank Friday along with its affiliate, First National Bank of Nevada. First Heritage Bank, which was chartered as a national bank in 2005, had about $250 million in assets, according to the comptroller.

All 28 branches of First Heritage and First National will convert to Mutual of Omaha Bank branches Monday.

David Barr, a spokesman for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which is overseeing the transition, said people with accounts at First Heritage were not in danger of losing their savings and would not have to take any action over the weekend.

“There’s absolutely nothing the customers need to do,” Barr said. “They just wake up Monday morning as customers of Mutual of Omaha Bank.”

Officials at First Heritage and representatives for the comptroller could not be reached Saturday.

— Michael Miller