BANKING/FINANCE

Loan Buyers Sought: With the RTC in the marketplace, other financial companies can find it hard to compete. That’s especially true for struggling institutions such as Mission Viejo National Bank.

The bank, operating under orders from banking regulators to raise its meager capital, is finding new buyers for the real estate loans it makes, but the process has not been easy, said Jo Ann Kruse, the bank’s president and chief executive.

The Mission Viejo bank took big losses in its loan portfolio last year as its list of loan buyers dried up. It lost $6.9 million in the first nine months. Annual figures will be released after regulators complete their routine audit of the bank, Kruse said.

In July, regulators ousted William T. Brady, Mission Viejo National’s chairman, president, chief executive and biggest shareholder.

Brady, who holds 27.75% of the stock, had been working on a deal to sell a 50% stake in the bank to an Asian investor group for $10 million.

Kruse said the deal fizzled out several months ago. The investors called this week, though, trying to find Brady. Seems the telephone at his trucking company in Brea had been disconnected.

Meantime, the bank is pursuing talks with other investors, including a group of Southern California residents, Kruse said. She would not elaborate.