BANKING/FINANCE

West Coast savings institutions that often trade securities through a brokerage arm of their Chicago-based trade association, the U.S. League of Savings Institutions, can now go to a new Irvine office that the association has set up to handle brokerage operations.

The U.S. League Government Securities, a profit-making venture of the nonprofit trade group, has started serving its 75 West Coast clients out of the Irvine office.

The securities operation, which competes for S & L business with the major Wall Street brokerage houses, handled more than $30 billion in securities trades last year, mostly government and mortgage-backed securities and a limited number of securities permitted by regulators.

About three-quarters of its customers are small and medium-size savings institutions, said Donald Maag, president of the U.S. League’s brokerage unit.

The Irvine office is being managed by Ronald D. Struck, a senior vice president of the unit.