NATION

First Interstate Bancorp, Los Angeles, on Monday named John C. Dean chairman and chief executive of its recently acquired Oklahoma subsidiary, First Interstate Bank of Oklahoma.

Dean, 39, moves to Oklahoma from his position as president and chief executive of First Interstate System, the bank holding company unit responsible for its franchise operations. He assumes the reins of a troubled Oklahoma bank that First Interstate bought after federal regulators declared it insolvent. It formerly was known as First National Bank & Trust Co. of Oklahoma City, and its collapse was one of the largest commercial bank failures in U.S. history.

The bank, which has $1.4 billion in assets, succumbed to heavy losses in energy, agriculture and real estate lending.

Dean joined First Interstate in 1982 after four years with Bank of America in Houston, where he was responsible for lending to Southwest energy and utility companies.

The Oklahoma bank’s former chief executive, James G. Cairns Jr., 49, leaves to become an independent bank consultant and an official of the Hallwood Group.

Shirley T. Hosoi, 40, senior vice president and manager of business development and marketing at First Interstate System, succeeds Dean as president of the unit.