King Expected to Fill Post at World Trade Bank

World Trade Bank in Beverly Hills is expected to announce shortly that veteran California banker John F. King has been appointed chairman and chief executive.

Controlling interest in the bank’s holding company, World Trade Bancorp, was acquired last September by a group of four private investors, including former Secretary of the Treasury William E. Simon.

“John will help World Trade Bank realize its potential for expanding Pacific Basin and U.S. merchant and commercial banking business,” Simon said in a statement scheduled for release today.

King, 53, most recently was vice chairman and director of Crocker National, which was acquired last year by Wells Fargo. From 1976 to early 1986, King worked at First Interstate Bank of California in a variety of high-level jobs, including president and chief operating officer from 1980 to 1985.