Chief of Mitsui Bank Unit to Retire Early

Jerry W. Johnston has advanced his retirement as president and chief operating officer of Mitsui Manufacturers Bank in Los Angeles to April 15 from the end of the year, when his three-year employment contract was to expire.

Johnston, 59, said he decided to retire early because of the “fairly dull economy in 1992” and because a major restructuring of the bank has been completed. The restructuring includes spinning off the bank’s problem loans and foreclosed real estate, as well as obtaining a $60-million injection from the bank’s parent, Tokyo-based Mitsui Taiyo Kobe Bank.

As with most California banks, Mitsui Manufacturers has been hit hard by the California recession and the soft commercial real estate market. Last year, Mitsui Manufacturers lost $57 million.

A longtime Security Pacific executive, Johnston became president of Mitsui Manufacturers in late 1989 as part of a much-publicized strategic alliance between Mitsui and Security Pacific that never fully got off the ground. Under that agreement, which has since been dropped, Mitsui was to own a chunk of a Security Pacific subsidiary, while Security Pacific was to own a portion of Mitsui Manufacturers.

The deal was delayed at first by community activists’ complaints to federal officials that Mitsui’s record of lending to minority and low-income groups was inadequate. Later, the strategies of both banks changed. Los Angeles-based Security Pacific is now scheduled to be acquired by BankAmerica Corp. in San Francisco.

Johnston’s duties are expected to be assumed largely by Yoshisuke Mohri, chairman and chief executive of Mitsui Manufacturers. Johnston will continue to serve as a director of the bank.