The notification of the meeting was given by Republic Bancorp., the parent of Republic Bank and Trust, in filings made last week with the SEC. No other details were released. That followed announcements that Republic will fund the bank products for 90 percent of the locations of Liberty Tax and 75 percent of the bank product business of Jackson Hewitt. Last year, Republic had provided 25 percent of the Jackson Hewitt bank funds.

That still leaves thousands of businesses who worked directly with Santa Barbara, scrambling for a solution, according to Gene Goldenberg, VP of marketing for CCH Small Firm Services, which owns the ATX and Tax Wise lines.
"We are working with our customers and SBBT and with the other banks to ensure that all our customers are banked," said Goldenberg, who noted, "The situation is in flux at the moment."

Pacific Capital Bancorp, Santa Barbara's parent, has signed a non-binding letter of intent to sell its tax division to a private equity firm and expected that the unit will remain intact under the direction of Richard Turner. The name of the potential purchaser has not been revealed and the sale is apparently dependent on the purchaser's ability to provide capital to underwrite the loan programs