Santa Barbara Bank & Trust parent Pacific Capital Bancorp earned $24.1 million, or 73 cents per diluted share, in the second quarter of 2012 compared with $21 million the year before.

The company, which is in the process of being bought by Union Bank, said the profits were its highest since Texas-based Ford Financial Group invested $500 million into Pacific Capital in 2010, when the bank struggled to survive.

The company said the Federal Reserve Bank in San Francisco has lifted regulatory orders put into place back then, though it continues to operate under an agreement with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to keep up its capital levels.

Pacific Capital reported a variety of improving metrics as its merger with Union nears at the end of this year. It reported net interest income of $61.2 million, or 4.55 percent of average interest-earning assets, compared with $60.2 million, or 4.42 percent, in the second quarter of last year. Its provision for loan losses dropped to $317,000 from $1.8 million a year earlier.

In March, San Francisco-based Union Bank announced that it would purchase Pacific Capital for $46 a share in a deal valued at $1.5 billion.