BANKING/FINANCE : First Newport Bank Shakes Off Identity Crisis With New Name

Founded in Fresno six years ago, University Savings Bank opened an office in Newport Beach in 1989 and developed an identity crisis of sorts.

The savings and loan found its interests split between Orange County and Fresno, where its majority shareholder and its top executive held court. Its headquarters seemed to move between the two locations.

Now, with that top executive gone, it has defined its market: Newport Beach.

On Monday, the savings and loan, which sold its Fresno branch at the end of December, started calling itself First Newport Bank.

“The new name better reflects our service area and will help us gain visibility and identity in a competitive banking environment,” said Donald D. Dauer, the S&L;’s chairman and interim president. “The opportunity in Orange County is such that we can carve out a niche here.”

The thrift, with $40.1 million in assets at the end of January, is turning itself into a mortgage banking operation by making only residential loans and selling those loans to investors in the secondary market.

Home loans are about all First Newport can do, though. It is operating under federal regulatory orders that restrict it to commercial real estate and other loans.

Last July, regulators forced out Thomas J. Bernard as chairman, president and chief executive. Bernard was also the company’s majority shareholder.

Regulators questioned several thrift transactions under Bernard. The thrift had also invested in two real estate projects, and federal law now requires thrifts to reduce drastically or eliminate such direct investments.

First Newport is still looking for a new president, Dauer said.