President of Small Irvine S&L; Finishes 11th in Voting : Home Savings Gets Seat on FHLB
The state’s savings and loan executives put to a quick end the unusual attempt of an upstart Irvine thrift operator to win a seat on the board of the prestigious and powerful Federal Home Loan Bank in San Francisco, according to election results released Friday.
The industry voted to return three incumbents to two-year terms and elected to the one open seat Richard H. Deihl, chairman of Home Savings of America in Los Angeles, the state’s second-largest S&L; with $24.6 billion in assets as of June 30.
Reelected were Herbert M. Sandler, chairman of the $11.5-billion World Savings & Loan Assn. in Oakland; Anthony M. Frank, chairman of the $10.5-billion First Nationwide Savings in San Francisco, and Ray Martin, president of the $6.3-billion Coast Savings & Loan in Los Angeles.
An increasingly vocal contingent of executives from small S&Ls; had hoped to elect one of their own to the board of the regional bank, which traditionally has been dominated by executives from the state’s largest S&Ls.;
The San Francisco bank is one of the 12 district banks under the Federal Home Loan Bank Board in Washington, which regulates most of the savings and loan industry. The San Francisco bank serves S&Ls; in California, Nevada and Arizona, acting primarily as a credit facility for its members.
Deihl replaces Douglas A. Clarke, vice chairman of Glendale Federal Savings & Loan Assn. Clarke had served three terms and was ineligible for reelection. The board has eight elected industry directors and six appointed members from outside the industry.
“I guess this means people are reasonably pleased with the job the incumbents have done,” Frank said of the results. “Deihl’s increasing stature in the business also is a factor,” he said.
Behind-the-Scenes Factor
Home Savings, while a major behind-the-scenes factor in shaping industry policy, has not traditionally been as openly and directly involved in industry affairs as other institutions. It has never had a member on the San Francisco bank’s board. But Deihl has become more active lately and was appointed last month to a 14-member board of a corporation that will be formed by the FHLBB to liquidate the problem loans of the savings and loan industry. He could not be reached for comment Friday.
Finishing a distant 11th in a field of 14 was Ottavio A. (Tony) Angotti, president of the 21-month-old, $67.4-million Consolidated Savings Bank of Irvine. Angotti admitted last month that his chances of winning were “slim or none,” but he wanted to send a message to the large S&Ls; that the small thrifts need representation on the board.
Angotti and others in the industry had argued that the 36 largest thrifts, which control enough votes--60.5%--to sway election to the San Francisco bank’s board, do not properly represent the interests of the remaining 177 smaller thrifts served by the bank.
Angotti’s effort underscored the deepening schism that has developed in recent years between the large, old-line thrifts in the state and the new breed of small, entrepreneurial S&Ls; that have flourished as the industry undergoes deregulation.
But Frank, for one, does not see any “cabal” at work. He believes an “active, dynamic leader” of the smaller S&Ls; will be elected to the bank board in the next few years.
“These are individuals who have worked for the industry in many areas who are getting elected,” he said. “The industry has to know you, and how you get your name around is to get involved in the trade associations and other industry activities. That type of getting-to-know-you is what gets you elected.”
