FarWest Makes Acting Chief Permanent

Charles H. Green, who has been the acting president at FarWest Savings & Loan since February, took over the duties of president and chief operating officer on a permanent basis Monday, the S&L; said.

Green also will retain his position as chief financial officer of the thrift’s holding company parent, FarWest Financial Corp. in Beverly Hills.

Green, a longtime commercial banker, has been with FarWest since 1984. He is overseeing a restructuring of the S&L;, which includes employee layoffs and a reduction in assets from $4.8 billion to as low as $3.5 billion.

Many thrifts are undergoing similar changes to comply with more stringent federal requirements that were part of the industry bailout law enacted in August.

The law created three tests for capital--an institution’s final reserve against losses--and forced S&Ls; to sell their portfolios of high-risk corporate securities known as junk bonds. FarWest doesn’t meet two of the three capital requirements and took a $22.9-million loss for the third quarter because it had to write down the value of its junk bond holdings.

Green was given control of FarWest in late February when the S&L;’s president at the time, Victor H. Indiek, and a top aide were fired for making unauthorized investments with depositor funds.

The aide, Ronald D. Struck, then FarWest’s chief financial officer, had previously been warned about his failure to follow the S&L;’s policies on investments, FarWest executives said at the time. And Indiek, who had handpicked Struck for the post, knew about previous improper investments by Struck and was held accountable.

FarWest said it did not lose any money on those investments.