SOUTHLAND : First Interstate CEO to Retire

First Interstate Bancorp said today that Chairman and Chief Executive Joseph J. Pinola would be succeeded by company President Edward Carson on June 1, after Pinola’s 65th birthday.

William E. B. Siart, who heads First Interstate of California, will succeed Carson as president of the parent company, the 10th largest bank holding company in the country.

In his 12 years as First Interstate’s chief, Pinola aggressively pursued interstate expansion, presiding as First Interstate swelled to its present $58 billion in assets, operating 28 banks in 14 states and franchising banks in 11 other states.

But Pinola leaves at a time when First Interstate has been hammered by hundreds of millions of dollars in losses from its subsidiaries in Arizona and Texas, where the real estate market has collapsed.