Former State Regulator Joins Plaza Home Mortgage Bank
William D. Davis, a former state thrift industry regulator, has been appointed vice chairman of Plaza Home Mortgage Bank, FSB, the mortgage banking subsidiary of Plaza Home Mortgage Corp.
In addition to serving in the newly created post, Davis also serves as a director on the boards of two other subsidiaries, Plaza Home Mortgage Bank, FSB, and Option One Mortgage Corp.
“Bill Davis has played an active role on three of Plaza’s boards,” said Jack French, Plaza chairman and chief executive. “He played an integral part in the start-up of our Option One Mortgage subsidiary.”
Davis, 57, said the appointment will enable him to be more active and keep the board better informed in monitoring the complicated business. But he added that he has no plans to become involved in day-to-day management.
“I’ve been in this industry since 1962 and I’ve seen it evolve,” he said. “I saw 65 thrifts close in my time as a regulator. The industry will continue to consolidate.”
Plaza faces the challenge of continuing its growth as home refinancings have begun to cool as interest rates have risen. Under its Option One subsidiary, which Davis helped begin in January, 1993, Plaza has focused on making home loans in the “less than A mortgage rating” market--to borrowers with less than top-notch credit.
Davis joined the Plaza Home Mortgage Bank board in October, 1992. Before that, he was chief operating officer of Guardian Savings in Huntington Beach, where he worked under his former boss, William J. Crawford.
Crawford was commissioner of the California Department of Savings and Loans from March, 1985, to May, 1991. During that stormy period of the thrift industry’s worst financial crisis, Davis was deputy commissioner. After Crawford retired in 1990, Davis took over as commissioner for one year.
After Crawford became chairman of Guardian Savings, he brought aboard Davis in May, 1991. Their efforts to turn the thrift around were short-lived. Federal regulators seized the S&L; in June, 1991.
The pair were quietly forced to resign in September of that year, shortly after Crawford tried to persuade regulators to allow him to turn the thrift into an employee-owned, minority-controlled operation. The Resolution Trust Corp. now operates Guardian.
Plaza Home Mortgage, with 35 offices in 13 states, is a mortgage banking company specializing in making home loans for one- to four-family residences. It is the ninth largest home mortgage lender in California and the 19th largest nationwide.
