Bert Lance Quits Bank Post

Former federal Budget Director Bert Lance has announced that he will resign as chairman of his Calhoun, Ga., bank, just a week after he was overwhelmingly re-elected in the wake of a legal battle with federal regulators.

Lance told shareholders of the Calhoun First National Bank in a letter dated Monday that “it is in your best interest that I no longer serve. Therefore, I am taking early retirement and will no longer serve as a director or officer of the bank.”

Lance was out of town Wednesday and not available for comment.

His decision to resign, effective Jan. 20, came less than a week before an administrative hearing, scheduled to begin Monday in Atlanta, on an attempt by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to have Lance removed.

An OCC spokeswoman said that there would be no comment on Lance’s resignation or on whether the hearing would be held.

Lance, who began working at the northwest Georgia bank as a teller in 1951 and is now its largest stockholder, has been involved in legal battles with the comptroller’s office since last summer, when the regulatory agency filed a civil lawsuit accusing Lance and the bank of violating securities laws.

Lance earlier had sued the office for violating his privacy, alleging that the agency was responsible for the leak of a secret bank examiner’s report on Calhoun First. Both lawsuits are pending.

Lance was budget director in the Carter Administration. He resigned as chairman of the Georgia Democratic Party last summer after the bank examiner’s report criticizing his banking practices was made public.