Coast S&L;’s 2 Top Officers Take Large Cuts in Salary

The top two executives of Coast Savings Financial, which is struggling to meet a key federal capital requirement in the wake of real estate loan losses, took pay cuts on Feb. 1, the thrift’s proxy statement shows.

Chief Executive Ray Martin’s annual salary was cut 10.6%--to $576,000 from the $644,179 he earned last year. Gerald D. Barrone, president and chief operating officer, saw his salary slashed 9.4%--to $375,000 from the $414,103 he earned in 1990.

In an interview Monday, Martin said the cuts were voluntary moves by the two men to save money for Coast. He insisted that regulators did not order the pay reductions.

Coast, the Los Angeles-based parent of Coast Federal Bank, does not meet a standard for capital--the financial cushion banks and thrifts maintain against losses--that is pegged to the riskiness of its loans and other assets.

Because it does not meet that standard, Coast was forced in December to enter into an agreement with regulators restricting its activities while the thrift seeks to bolster its finances. Coast on March 1 filed a plan with regulators describing how it plans to do that.

In addition to the pay cuts, Coast chose to forgo publishing a glossy annual report for 1990. Instead, it is sending shareholders bound copies of the Form 10-K it filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, a move Martin said saved about $120,000.

Other cost-cutting moves that Coast has taken include freezing employee salaries and trimming its payroll to 1,900 from a high of 2,300 in 1989.