BANKING : ‘Beverly Hills’ Moves Back to Mission Viejo, but It Can’t Stay Long

The name Beverly Hills is once again a fixture in Mission Viejo, but not for long.

The thrift that carries the name of the affluent Los Angeles suburb of the stars has moved its headquarters back to Mission Viejo for the third time in the last decade.

As Beverly Hills Savings & Loan, the thrift opened a huge two-building office in Mission Viejo ia the early 1980s and located its headquarters there. Before the thrift failed in 1985, its headquarters returned to Beverly Hills. Regulators, who continued to operate the thrift, moved back to Mission Viejo.

Michigan National Corp., which bought the thrift from regulators and changed its name to Beverly Hills Federal Savings Bank, shifted the headquarters to Laguna Hills in 1989. Now called Beverly Hills Business Bank, the S&L; recently moved back to Mission Viejo, this time to smaller, leased quarters that is shared with other Michigan National subsidiaries.

By the end of the year, the thrift will have a new name and Beverly Hills won’t be in it, said Edward H. Sondker, the thrift’s president and chief executive. Sondker wouldn’t reveal the new name until the change is presented to regulators for approval sometime in the next two months.

Whatever the new name will be, it isn’t likely to change after Michigan National converts the thrift to a commercial bank, which it intends to do after a note from regulators is paid off. That note, used to cover losses at defunct Beverly Hills Savings, now stands at about $625 million, Sondker said.