Wagner, Others Leaving Western Bancorp

Matthew P. Wagner, who helped build Western Bancorp from scratch into a bank holding company with $2.5 billion in assets, has decided to leave the Newport Beach-based company, which was acquired last month by Minneapolis-based U.S. Bancorp.

Several other executives also have left, including Western Chairman Hugh Smith, Chief Financial Officer Arnold Hahn and Mark H. Stuenkel, former president of Western’s Southern California Bank. Such departures of top executives are common after bank mergers.

David I. Rainer, 42, will take over as head of commercial banking operations at Western’s 31 branches in Southern California, which currently operate under the names Santa Monica Bank and Southern California Bank. All branches will be renamed U.S. Bancorp early next year.

Rainer had previously served as president of Santa Monica Bank.

Mary Stone, a former manager at Southern California Bank, will oversee the retail branch operations in Southern California for U.S. Bancorp.

U.S. Bancorp plans to retain Western’s old Newport Beach headquarters, where about 80 people work, and use it as a regional hub.