Still looking: Bank of Newport, one of...

Still looking: Bank of Newport, one of Orange County’s larger and older banks, still hasn’t been able to find a replacement for founding president Ronald L. Rodgers, who resigned in March.

“We are still looking,” said Susan Luehrs, the bank’s marketing director. She said she didn’t know if directors were close to picking a new leader.

Rodgers resigned as directors became increasingly uncomfortable about the bank’s continued losses and with the criticism that federal regulators had leveled at them earlier.

In August, 1992, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. issued a wake-up call to directors in the form of a cease-and-desist order, its most severe directive. Regulators said directors were not paying enough attention to what management was doing.

The bank lost $4.8 million last year--the most of any Orange County bank. Rodgers left just before the bank lost $530,000 more for the first quarter.

Four directors, led by Chairman E.O. Rodeffer, agreed to pump $2.8 million into the bank to shore up its capital, the final cushion against losses.