Westamerica Bancorporation is a bank holding company that provides banking services to individuals and small businesses in Northern and Central California through its subsidiary, Westamerica Bank. Westamerica operates across a broad footprint stretching from Mendocino, Lake, and Nevada Counties in the north down to Kern County in the south, selling directly to customers through a branch network across this region. The bank's core business is small business banking, with lending and deposit-gathering activities oriented toward that segment rather than large corporate clients or retail consumers. Westamerica earns money the way most community banks do: taking in deposits and lending at a higher rate, with profitability driven by loan volume and mix, deposit costs, and credit quality. The bank funds itself primarily with low-cost checking and savings deposits rather than wholesale funding, which supports its net interest margin. Westamerica has grown largely through acquisitions, including the 1997 acquisition of ValliCorp Holdings and FDIC-assisted acquisitions of failed banks County Bank and Sonoma Valley Bank in 2009 and 2010. Westamerica's entire business is concentrated in Northern and Central California, meaning its performance is closely tied to the health of small businesses and broader economic conditions in this region.