ITLA Capital Corp. (ITLA), the largest financial services company headquartered in San Diego, continues to make waves in local banking with record-setting quarterly profits and the conversion of subsidiary Imperial Capital Bank from an industrial to commercial banking charter.

In the first quarter of 2003, La Jolla-based ITLA reported the highest level of quarterly profitability in its 28-year history with net income of $13 million, or $2.02 a share. Total assets for the first quarter were $1.6 billion.

According to President and Chief Executive Officer George W. Haligowski, ITLA's stellar earnings come primarily from the operations of its wholly owned subsidiaries, Imperial Capital Bank and Imperial Capital Real Estate Investment Trust. Our conversion from an industrial bank to a commercial bank will allow us to offer more conventional business and consumer products and services in the marketplace, he said.

"The first quarter of 2003 was significant with respect to our ability to execute on our business diversification strategy," Haligowski said. "With solid contributions from the Lewis Horwitz Organization and the Household International Inc. strategic alliance, we have been able to modestly diversify our loan production and augment our core competency of commercial real estate lending."

In October 2002, Imperial Capital Bank acquired the operating assets and the loan portfolio of The Lewis Horwitz Organization, an internationally recognized lender to the independent film and television production industry. And in November 2002, Imperial Capital Bank announced a strategic relationship with Household International Inc., relating to certain tax refund anticipation loans and private label commercial credit products.

Imperial Capital Bank provides its customers a variety of commercial banking products, such as consumer and business checking accounts, online banking, IRAs, CDs and money market accounts.

"We are very proud of our performance throughout all disciplines within the company," Haligowski said. "Our ability to execute and integrate new business opportunities demonstrates the capability of our management team while we continue to focus on the fundamentals of our core business to drive shareholder value. With strong financial performance in our core business augmented by the Household strategic alliance, we are also especially pleased that our stock price reached a new 52 week high of $37 on April 14, 2003."

With a strong balance sheet and exciting new initiatives, ITLA Capital Corp. and Imperial Capital Bank are poised for future growth.

Submitted by ITLA Capital Corp.