BANKING/FINANCE : Viejo Bancorp Stock Moves to NASDAQ System, Closes at $5.50

Capitalizing on its recent financial success, the parent company of Mission Viejo National Bank moved its stock up a notch in status Tuesday when its shares started trading on the National Assn. of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations system.

In its first day of trading on NASDAQ’s national market system, Viejo Bancorp stock closed at $5.50 a share.

The NASDAQ listing means that shares in Viejo Bancorp will be easier to sell and more readily available to purchasers.

Previously, any of the 440 shareholders who wanted to buy or sell Viejo Bancorp’s stock had to go to Crowell, Weedon & Co., a brokerage that made a market in the stock. Directors own 54% of the company’s 2.6 million shares, with the biggest chunk, about 765,000 shares or 26.7%, owned by Viejo Bancorp Chairman William T. Brady.

The company is riding a wave of high profitability as its banking subsidiary was among the top 100 community banks nationwide in a key measure of financial performance--return on assets. It posted $2.4 million in net income last year, earning a 2.2% return on assets. Most major banks do not garner more than a 1% return.