The largest local thrifts didn’t quite match their commercial bank counterparts on the deposit front during the past year.
But the thrift’s gains were strong nevertheless.
The 15 largest savings and loans in Orange County reported a 9% rise in deposits to $20.1 billion held by their local branches for the 12 months through June 30, according to this week’s Business Journal list. Last year’s crop of thrifts recorded a 10% rise in deposits for the previous year.
Commercial banks posted a 12% jump in the period ended June 30 (see story, page 35). U.S. thrifts posted 7.3% deposit growth during the same period, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Deposit data for the Business Journal list is obtained from the FDIC and the thrifts themselves.
Thrifts here had a solid year for many of the same reasons commercial banks saw their deposits rise,a robust economy, strong housing market and a desire by consumers and businesses to park money in savings accounts instead of investing in the stock markets.
Employment at the 15 thrifts grew 3% to 6,462 jobs, versus a year ago.
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The top four thrifts held their rankings.
Seattle-based Washington Mutual Inc., the nation’s largest savings and loan, continued to dominate the list at No. 1. WaMu posted a 1% decline in local deposits to $7.6 billion, versus a year earlier.
That gives it about 38% of all OC thrift deposits. It has double the deposits of No. 2 World Savings Bank, a unit of Oakland-based Golden West Financial Corp.
WaMu plans to add to its 58 OC branches during the next year, said Gary Rosenau, vice president and regional manager responsible for the thrift’s local branches.
The thrift opened five branches in the county during the past year and stands to expand at about the same pace in 2006, Rosenau said. WaMu recently said it would add as many as 200 branches nationally this year.
That marks a turnaround for WaMu, which shed thousands of workers companywide during the past few years amid a slowdown in its mortgage operations.
World Savings saw its deposits grow 15% to $3.5 billion. No. 3 Newport Beach-based Downey Savings & Loan Association reported a 16% jump to $2.8 billion.
No. 4 Citibank recorded a 2% decline in local deposits to $2.1 billion.
No. 5 Commercial Capital Bank moved up a spot on a 37% gain in deposits to $1.5 billion.
Commercial Capital, which has a market value of roughly $830 million, is among the leading apartment lenders in the state. In October, the thrift agreed to pay $40 million for Sacramento’s Calnet Business Bank to expand in Northern California.
Two years ago Commercial Capital bought El Segundo-based Hawthorne Financial Corp., the former No. 10 thrift on the list.
Commercial Capital has a legal fight on its hands over its hiring of 24 real estate banking executives from rival Comerica Inc. in July. A lawsuit is pending.
Swan Song
No. 6 Western Financial Bank posted 15% growth in deposits to $1.4 billion, versus a year earlier. The thrift’s name will disappear from the list when its acquisition by Charlotte, N.C.-based Wachovia Corp. closes as expected later this year.
Wachovia agreed to pay nearly $4 billion for Irvine-based Westcorp Inc. and its offshoot WFS Financial to expand its auto lending operations and jump into the California banking market.
Newcomers to the list were No. 13 IronStone Bank, a unit of Raleigh, N.C.-based First Citizens BancShares Inc., and No. 15 Share Plus Federal Bank.
IronStone said its deposits grew 618% to $55 million for the period ended June 30, versus a year earlier. First Citizens launched the IronStone unit in 2002 to tap Western U.S. markets.
Thrift Conversion
Plano, Texas-based Share Plus became a mutual savings bank in 2004 after operating as a credit union for nearly 50 years. Share Plus recorded $5 million in deposits in the period.
Conversion to a savings bank is a recent trend for credit unions. Before transforming to a savings bank, Share Plus served the employees and family members of local businesses run by Taco Bell Corp. and other major restaurant operations.
No. 9 Pacific Premier Bank and No. 11 Beal Bank were among the largest percentage gainers in deposits.
Deposits at Pacific Premier grew 74% to $189 million, versus a year earlier, as a turnaround at the once ailing thrift took hold.
Five years ago, regulators told the then-struggling Riverside thrift Pacific Premier Bancorp to get its finances in shape. There was a strong possibility that the savings and loan could dissolve if its performance didn’t improve.
After shuttering unprofitable branches, retooling its lending strategy, shaking up management and moving its headquarters to Costa Mesa, the savings and loan got a new lease on life.
Privately held Beal Bank’s branch in Newport Beach recorded a 241% rise in deposits to $122 million.
Beal’s OC branch is among a small network of six operated by Plano, Texas-based parent Beal Financial Corp., which makes money buying and selling loans and originates commercial loans.
Beal’s deposit growth was fueled by attractive interest rates on its CDs and money market accounts, said Molly Curl, senior vice president in charge of compliance for Beal’s administrative support unit.
Curl said the thrift doesn’t have plans to expand beyond its one local branch.
“We are always looking for opportunities, but right now we are staying the course,” she said.
Beal got into OC nearly three years ago when it bought Southern Pacific Bank, a Torrance bank closed by regulators after experiencing substantial operating and loan losses.
