Union Bank Chief to Resign Next Month

Seishichi Itoh, who headed the Bank of Tokyo’s 1988 acquisition of Union Bank for $737 million through its California First Bank subsidiary, will resign next month as Union Bank’s chief executive.

Itoh, 55, will leave the San Francisco bank to return to Japan to take an unspecified assignment with Bank of Tokyo. His leaving is no surprise, and in line with the Japanese management style in which top executives are rotated every few years.

Taisuke Shimizu, 54, the bank’s vice chairman and chief financial officer, will replace Itoh. Shimizu’s position will be filled by Kanetaka Yoshida, 52.

Union, the state’s fifth-largest commercial bank, is 77% owned by Bank of Tokyo. The bank today is an outgrowth of the combination of the former Union Bank in Los Angeles and California First Bank in San Francisco, which Itoh had headed since 1983.