Wells Fargo Carves Off Retail Division for Orange County

Wells Fargo Bank said Wednesday that it has created new retail divisions in Orange and San Diego counties, carving up its huge Los Angeles-based Southern California division in an effort to decentralize operations and improve customer service.

The restructuring is part of a statewide plan that will give California’s third-largest commercial bank seven divisions to coordinate 558 branches, once it completes the acquisition of 92 offices of troubled Great American Bank.

The new Orange County retail division, with headquarters in Irvine, will oversee 70 branches--37 Wells Fargo offices in Orange County, 21 Wells Fargo branches in southern and eastern Los Angeles County and 12 Great American offices in Orange County.

Six more branches will be added to the Irvine division at the end of the year, when Wells Fargo’s acquisition of Citizens Holdings in Anaheim is expected to be completed. Citizens owns Citizens Bank of Costa Mesa and El Camino Bank in Anaheim.

Senior Vice President Larry Crabtree, 42, a graduate of Cal State Long Beach with a degree in criminal justice, will manage the division. He joined Wells Fargo as a branch manager in 1983 after serving 13 years on the Downey and Los Angeles police forces and, later, as the head of his own security company.

At Wells Fargo, Crabtree has managed four branches and four districts in the Los Angeles area, including most recently the Wilshire district, which covers West Los Angeles.

Wells Fargo appointed Senior Vice President Drew Tanzman, 33, to manage the San Diego division, which will have 77 offices, and Executive Vice President Lois Rice, 50, as head of the 85-branch Los Angeles division.

“We’re giving each division a manageable number of branches because we don’t want the division heads out of touch with district managers and branch operations,” said Kathleen Shilkret, a Wells Fargo spokeswoman. “This emphasizes our renewed importance on the retail side of the bank.”

Retail banking is aimed at providing such financial services as checking accounts and auto loans to the general public.

Wells Fargo has agreed to buy Great American and its 130 branches. It hopes to acquire 92 Great American branches in Orange, San Diego and Riverside counties by Nov. 30.

Previously, Wells Fargo had three divisions--Northern, Central and Southern California--but its recent growth through acquisitions has forced it to realign its branch network, Shilkret said.