Exhibit 23(a)
Consent of Independent Auditors

The Board of Directors
Westamerica Bancorporation

We consent to the incorporation by reference in Registration
Statement (No. 33-60003) on Form S-8 and in Amendment No. 1 to
Registration Statement (No. 333-17335) on Form S-4 of Westamerica
Bancorporation
and subsidiaries (the Company) of our report dated January 21,
1997, relating to the consolidated balance sheet of Westamerica
and subsidiaries as of December 31, 1996 and 1995, and the
related consolidated statements of income, changes in
shareholders' equity,
and cash flows for the years in the three-year period ended
December 31, 1996, which report appears in the December 31, 1996
annual report on Form 10-K of Westamerica Bancorporation. On
January 31, 1995 and
July 17, 1995, the Company acquired PV Financial and North Bay
Bancorp, respectively, on a pooling-of-interests basis. We did
not audit the
financial statements of PV Financial and North Bay Bancorp as of
and for the year ended December 31, 1994.  Those statements,
included in the 1994 restated consolidated totals, were audited
by other auditors
whose reports have been furnished to us, and our opinion, insofar
as it relates to the amounts included for PV Financial and North
Bay Bancorp, is based solely on the reports of the other
auditors.



/s/ KPMG Peat Marwick, L.L.P.
- -----------------------------
KPMG Peat Marwick, L.L.P.


San Francisco, California
March 26, 1997