Guardian Savings Placed in Receivership

Guardian Savings and Loan Assn., a four-office thrift seized by federal regulators in June, was placed in receivership Friday--an action typically followed by the sale or liquidation of the institution.

The Resolution Trust Corp., which has been operating Guardian under a conservatorship since it was declared insolvent June 21, was named receiver.

As is typical in such cases, regulators immediately created a new federal mutual association, Guardian Federal Savings, to assume all the deposits and certain assets and liabilities of the old, privately owned thrift.

Regulators said Guardian Federal will keep normal business hours and operations under the same RTC managing agent. Existing deposits and loans will be unaffected.

As of Friday, Guardian had $639.1 million in deposits and $680 million in assets.

Since 1985, when federal regulators first began clamping down on thrifts, 24 Orange County savings and loans have been seized, including Guardian and four others this year.

The RTC was created in August, 1989, to manage and sell failed savings and loans.