FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                  FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
                                       PLEASE CONTACT:

August 12, 1999                        ROBERT UCCIFERRI, PRESIDENT
                                       AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, OR
                                       BARRY MOORE, SENIOR EVP
                                       AND CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
                                       (714) 685-1317


                                PRESS RELEASE
                                -------------

               BYL BANCORP ANNOUNCES SALE OF BUSINESS LOANS

Orange, CA - BYL Bank Group ("BYL"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of BYL Bancorp
(the "Company") (NASDAQ National Market "BOYL"), announced that BYL has sold
approximately $47.1 million of aggregate principal amount of a pool of
business loans (the "Business Loans") to a newly-created trust (the "Trust")
for the benefit of the holders of certificates representing interests in such
Trust. The Trust consists of the Business Loans, and the Trust has issued
three (3) classes of certificates representing certain fractional undivided
ownership interests in the Trust (the "Certificates").

The Class A and Class B Certificates bear fixed interest rates subject to a
cap with the Class A-1, Class A-2 and Class A-3 Certificates constituting
$55.2 million aggregate principal amount, and the Class B Certificates
constituting $4.8 million aggregate principal amount. The Class R Certificate
is a residual certificate that has no principal balance. The Class B and R
Certificates were retained by BYL and are subordinate to the Class A-1, A-2
and A-3 Certificates. The Class A-1, A-2 and A-3 Certificates were sold to a
limited number of "Qualified Institutional Buyers" as defined in Rule 144A
under the Securities Act of 1933 and institutional "Accredited Investors" as
defined in Rule 501 under the Securities Act of 1933.

Robert Ucciferri, President and CEO of the Company, stated "We are very
pleased with the results of this sale of business loans. As has been the case
in similar past sales of business loans, this latest sale is part of our plan
to periodically sell the business loans which are created through our
substantial business loan origination activities."

BYL Bancorp is a California corporation headquartered in Orange, California
whose principal operating subsidiary is BYL Bank Group ("BYL"). BYL's primary
market area is Orange and Riverside Counties, California in which it operates
nine full-service banking centers and two divisional loan origination
offices. Additionally, BYL has mortgage loan origination offices in Arizona,
Colorado, Kansas, Oregon, Utah and Washington state. BYL's specialized loan
origination divisions, Mortgage



and SBA, operate under the name of Bank of Yorba Linda, a division of BYL
Bank Group. BYL specializes in originating and selling non-conforming and
conforming residential real estate loans and SBA guaranteed loans. The shares
of common stock of BYL Bancorp trade on the NASDAQ National Market System
under the symbol "BOYL".