American Savings Official Quits Suddenly

In a sudden and unexpected move, a key executive at American Savings Bank resigned both his management job and his seat on the board of the nation’s fourth-largest savings and loan.

W. Brent Robinson, a top executive since joining the troubled American Savings & Loan in 1986, left abruptly Monday as director and executive vice president in charge of the thrift’s 159-branch network and customer deposit services.

Mario J. Antoci, the Irvine thrift’s chairman and chief executive, took over as interim director of retail banking while he begins to search for a replacement.

Spokeswoman Dianne Seeber said only that the resignation came after a “serious disagreement” with superiors and that the disagreement was “not related to branch performance.” She declined to be more specific.

Reached at home, Robinson, 54, also declined to be more specific, saying that there was a “difference of opinion” that had been “going on for awhile.”

“It’s been a very great place to work, and the company is doing well,” Robinson said. “But there’s a time when somebody ought to make a change. It’s my belief that you shouldn’t stay in one place over 10 years.”

He hinted that he would like to operate his own thrift, something that wasn’t likely to happen soon at American Savings. He noted that his immediate boss, President Robert T. Barnum, is younger than he is and that Antoci “still has a ways to go” before retirement.

Regulators seized American Savings & Loan in 1988 and split it apart, selling the better operations to an investor group led by Ft. Worth, Texas, financier Robert M. Bass, who named the S&L; American Savings Bank.