Bank Buys Deposits at Collapsed S

Southern California Bank paid $101,000 on Tuesday for nearly $135 million in insured deposits at the failed Western Empire Savings & Loan in Irvine, which was seized by regulators in February.

The thrift’s two branches opened Monday as offices of the Downey-based Southern California Bank after the transaction was approved late Friday by federal regulators running the S&L.; Southern California Bank will keep Western Empire’s Yorba Linda branch--the thrift’s original headquarters and the heart of its operation--but will close the Irvine branch within a month, said Norman Morales, the bank’s executive vice president.

The ultimate cost to taxpayers for the S&L;’s collapse was estimated at $24 million by the Resolution Trust Corp., the federal agency that operates and liquidates failed thrifts.