First Foundation Bank shut down its equipment finance department late last week, according to sources familiar with the matter. According to data provided for the 2023 Monitor 100, the department was made up of 15 employees.

Sources said that employees were called into a morning meeting on March 1 and then escorted out of the building after being told that the department would be shuttered.

First Foundation had a loan-to-deposit ratio of 92.5% as of Dec. 31, 2023, according to its Q4/23 and full-year earnings report released in late January. The bank narrowly missed earning a spot in the Monitor 100 in 2023, reporting $242.8 million in total assets and finishing No. 104.

First Foundation did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Monitor will update this story as it develops.