BANKING

Moving Out for Now: Michigan National Corp. may have scuttled its plan to build up its Orange County thrift, but it hasn’t given up on the savings and loan industry.

The bank holding company, based in a Detroit suburb, has been selling the business units of its Mission Viejo thrift, Independence One Bank of California. But it will keep the S&L; charter and probably move it to its Farmington Hills headquarters, where it may open a new thrift.

“We anticipate wrapping up all sales by May or June and transferring the charter to Michigan,” said Edward H. Sondker, Independence One’s president.

Marc Belsky, a Michigan National spokesman, said a final decision won’t be made for a few months on whether to open an S & L in Michigan or do something with the charter in California.

But the holding company for Michigan National Bank has been streamlining operations by selling its out-of-state operations, including two Texas banks, to concentrate on its home turf. The strategy is Chairman Robert J. Mylod’s response to pressure from shareholders who have pushed for a sale of the company.

So far, Independence One has agreed to sell $205 million in deposits to Glendale Federal Bank and has sold a mortgage banking division to a Ford Motor Co. subsidiary called Associates Corp. of North America. It is negotiating offers now for its corporate and private banking operation and expects to reach an agreement within a week. Michigan National will keep some residential loans and some deposits along with the charter, Sondker said.

Independence One is the former Beverly Hills Savings & Loan, the first of the state’s larger thrifts to fail in the last decade. Its April, 1985, collapse eventually cost taxpayers about $1.5 billion, making it one of the costlier clean-ups in the thrift industry debacle.