Local thrifts had a good year of deposit growth.
The 16 biggest savings and loans reported a 10% rise in deposits held by their Orange County branches for the 12 months through June 30, according to this week’s Business Journal list.
Commercial banks, meanwhile, posted a 20% jump (see related story, page 30).
However, if you subtract results for the thrift behemoth Wash-
ington Mutual Inc. and the biggest commercial bank gainer,subprime lender Fremont Investment and Loan,the overall deposit growth totals are very similar.
Thrifts here had a solid year for many of the same reasons commercial banks saw their deposits rise,a rebounding economy, consumers’ and businesses’ desire to park their money in the relative safety of savings accounts, and frothy home refinancing activity.
Overall, the thrifts on this year’s list reported OC deposits of $19 billion at June 30, versus $17.3 billion a year earlier. The data is obtained from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the thrifts themselves.
None of the top nine thrifts saw a ranking change this year.
As always, the list is dominated by No. 1 Seattle-based Washington Mutual, the nation’s largest savings and loan.
The thrift posted a 5% gain in deposits to $7.7 billion, versus a year earlier. That gives it about 40% of the OC thrift market. The thrift dwarfs its OC competitors, topping the total deposits of the three below it.
WaMu shed thousands of workers companywide last year as growth in its mortgage refinancing operations slowed and its earnings results suffered. In OC, the thrift reported an 18% decline in workers to 2,934.
The thrift also sold its high-profile, 16-acre Irvine campus to Los Angeles-based Maguire Properties Inc. for about $150 million.
World Savings Bank in Laguna Hills lost some of its grip on the No. 2 spot, with 3% growth in deposits to $3.1 billion in the period. World Savings’ parent, Golden West Financial Corp., is based in Oakland.
No. 3 Newport Beach-based Downey Savings & Loan Association saw deposits grow 16% to $2.4 billion.
Downey sold off a big chunk of loans it managed for others, Chief Executive Daniel D. Rosenthal said.
“In addition, we continue to originate more adjustable rate mortgages than we need to satisfy the growth of our balance sheet,” Rosenthal said. “We will continue to do so as long as we can profitably sell them.”
Last year, Downey also saw a shift in chief executives with Rosenthal returning to the helm after running the thrift from 1998 to 2003.
Marangal “Marito” Domingo left Downey early last year after a seven-month stint.
No. 4 Citibank in Newport Beach reported a 2% increase in deposits to $2.1 billion, an improvement versus the thrift’s 10% decline on last year’s list.
Rounding out the top five was Irvine’s Western Financial Bank, a unit of Irvine-based Westcorp. Western Financial posted an 18% rise in deposits to $1.2 billion.
No. 6 Irvine-based Commercial Capital Bank was this year’s big gainer, growing deposits 120% to $1.1 billion, versus a year earlier.
Commercial Capital’s growth came in large part from last year’s $500 million buy of El Segundo-based Hawthorne Financial Corp., the former No. 10 thrift on the list.
There was one newcomer this year: No. 16 Community Commerce Bank in Tustin, which reported 7% growth in deposits to $10.7 million.
