Press Release

APEC is the premier forum for facilitating economic growth, cooperation, trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific region and has 21 member nations. The conference is one of four to be held in the U.S. in 2011 for the member nations.

“I am honored to have been invited and look forward to gathering insights into global economic policies and realities,” said Kaselionis.  “I am particularly cognizant of the importance of the Asia-Pacific region to the U.S. economy and its enormous effect on our state in particular.”

In announcing the series of invitation-only conferences, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton emphasized the importance of region as an economic leader.  She said, “Although APEC is comprised of just 21 economies, together we generate more than half of the global output and nearly half of global trade. Six out of 10 of the largest trading partners of the United States are in the region, and our exports to this region are growing much faster than those to any other part of the world.”

For the second time, Kaselionis and Circle Bank will also be hosting a touring delegation of Japanese community bankers on Sept. 15.  “There are about as many total banks in Japan as there are in the State of California, serving a population of three times the size,” Kaselionis said. “But there as here, the large banks dominate and the delegation is looking for insights into our system and how community banks compete and provide services.”  A similar group visited Circle in 2009.

Kaselionis, who has led Circle Bank to 48 consecutive profitable quarters since becoming CEO in 1996,  has taken on an increasingly prominent role in national conferences in recent years.

She is one of California’s three representatives on the American Bankers Association (ABA) Community Bank Council, which in turns acts on behalf of the nation’s 7000 community banks.  She a member of the ABA committee making recommendations regarding the adoption of the Internet domain name “.BANK” and is on the planning committee which will create the agenda for the 2012 ABA annual meeting.  Earlier this year, she was one of 150 women financial executives invited to participate in a Wall Street Journal conference about the impact of women on global economies.

“I have long advocated that our region have strong representation at the national level,” said Kaselionis, “on issues and in discussions of matters which will affect our local economies.  As a local business, we want to ensure that Northern California businesses have a voice and a presence at the table.”

Secretary Clinton’s remarks echoed that sentiment on behalf of the country when she announced the APEC agenda:  “… we must decide how we will work together, what rules we will adopt, what principles we will abide by, and what behavior we will encourage and discourage in ourselves and in each other. These are open questions that deserve the most careful analysis because we are called upon to answer them as individual economies and as an economic community. APEC provides a forum for reaching those answers.

About APEC

APEC's 21 Member Economies are the United States, Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, The Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Republic of Korea, Chinese Taipei, Thailand and Viet Nam.

About Circle Bank

Circle Bank (www.umpquabank.com), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Circle Bancorp, is a full-service bank, providing a broad range of financial services to consumers and businesses.  It is headquartered in Novato, with branches in Corte Madera, Petaluma, San Rafael, Santa Rosa and San Francisco’s Noe Valley. The Bank had total net assets of $306.4 million as of the quarter ending June 30, 2010.

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