BANKING : Management Team for ITT Federal Bank Shifts to Bay Area
Since its president left 14 months ago, fast-growing ITT Federal Bank has gradually shifted its management team from Irvine to San Francisco.
The savings and loan, one of the financial subsidiaries of giant ITT Corp. in New York, still has its three full-service branches in Orange County and a business office in Irvine. But the top corporate officers are in the Bay Area, and many of them report to the immediate parent company, ITT Residential Capital Corp.
“As the management group turned over, we found ourselves replacing them (with executives) in the Bay Area,” said Graham J. Williams, the S&L;’s chairman, president and chief executive. He holds the same positions with ITT Residential.
The shift in corporate headquarters, though, isn’t intended to signal a possible sale or an end to the S&L;’s presence in Orange County, Williams said.
Indeed, ITT Federal nearly doubled its size in a year as its loans, investments and other holdings grew from $1.7 billion at the end of 1992 to $3.2 billion a year later. Its assets at the end of April rose to $3.8 million. With half of its mortgage loans made in Texas, the Pacific Northwest and New England, ITT Federal earned $25 million last year.
“We like the bank very much, and we like being involved in Orange County,” Williams said. “The thrift is the heart of our business.”
Williams, who lived in Orange County for 10 years, still spends much of his work time in Southern California. He said he and other executives find the commute easy.
The S&L; was opened 15 years ago as Newport Balboa Savings Bank in Newport Beach. It was sold to ITT in 1983 and now has branches in Newport Beach and Garden Grove.
