Cal Fed, First Nationwide Complete Merger

San Francisco-based First Nationwide Holdings Inc. said it completed its purchase of Los Angeles-based Cal Fed Bancorp and its California Federal Bank unit. The merged bank will be called California Federal Bank. First Nationwide Holdings’ name will not change, nor will that of the bank’s mortgage unit, First Nationwide Mortgage Corp. While the merger was effective Friday, First Nationwide Bank branches won’t adopt the Cal Fed name until the weekend of March 21, when all accounts from both institutions are expected to be converted to one system. After the branch consolidations, the combined bank will have 229 retail branches. As of Sept. 30, First Nationwide had about $17 billion in assets and $9 billion in deposits. Cal Fed had about $14 billion in assets and $9 billion in deposits.