Ex-Regulator’s S&L; Seized by Government : Thrifts: Officials say Santa Barbara’s County Bank had a string of troubled loans.

A Santa Barbara savings and loan headed by a former senior thrift regulator was seized by the government Wednesday after losing more than $70 million during the past two years.

Ten-year-old County Bank was plagued by poor underwriting of loans, high interest rates it offered depositors and troubled real estate investment loans, officials from the Office of Thrift Supervision said.

The OTS said about 55% of County’s $1.2 billion in assets were risky apartment and commercial loans. County lost $70.8 million in 1989, and $2.2 million in 1990. Its net worth, if any, has not been be determined, an OTS spokeswoman said.

County Bank’s chairman and chief executive was Roy G. Green, hired in 1987 after serving for three years as president of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas, the Southwest’s top thrift regulator. He also once served as a top official with the U.S. League of Savings Institutions, the industry’s main trade group.

Green was a close associate of Edwin J. Gray, formerly the nation’s top savings and loan regulator, who named him to the Dallas job to oversee what soon became the nation’s worst thrift problems. Green could not be reached for comment.

The OTS said County Bank’s 10 offices will remain open for business. Deposits will continue to be insured for up to $100,000.

The seizure will wipe out stockholder interests. County’s largest shareholder is Santa Barbara real estate executive William J. Levy, who owns 2.2 million shares, or a 25% stake. Levy left the bank’s board in December along with his longtime business partner, Roy Millender, also a major shareholder.

With County Bank’s seizure, Santa Barbara’s two major savings and loans are now under government control. Santa Barbara Savings was seized last April, and just this week was put up for sale by the Resolution Trust Corp., the federal agency charged with cleaning up the nation’s troubled thrift industry.