BANKING / FINANCE

Because of a disagreement with directors over the planned growth of US Facilities Corp., Robert J. Percival has stepped down as vice chairman and chief operating officer of the Costa Mesa insurance holding company.

Percival will remain on the board as a director and, under his employment contract, will act as a consultant for the next two years, said Rosemary Mulligan, a company spokeswoman.

George Kadonada, US Facilities chairman and president, will assume Percival’s duties while the company looks for a replacement.

Mulligan said the board was dissatisfied with the company’s lackluster performance and wants to improve the firm’s growth.

Meantime, the company bought 112,000 shares--about 3%--of its common stock from a shareholder and retired the shares. Mulligan said the price paid for the shares earlier this month was attractive to the company, but she refused to reveal any other details.

The company said the stock purchase was unrelated to recent turmoil in the stock market.

The company operates USF RE Insurance Co., a property and casualty reinsurance company, and US Benefits Inc., an underwriting manager for excess group medical stop-loss coverage.