The president of the brokerage at American Savings Bank, a large thrift in Irvine, Calif., resigned last week amid reorganization of his unit.
Randall Ciccati said he is leaving his post at the $18 billion-asset savings and loan after 20 months on the job. The 37-year-old brokerage chief has agreed to stay on as a consultant until the company finds someone to take his place.
"It's a great organization to work for," Mr. Ciccati said, "but it's my choice to move on because of the restructuring."
The bank, which has a deal to be acquired by Seattle's Washington Mutual before yearend, has moved its brokerage unit under the supervision of Craig S. Davis, executive vice president and director of mortgage origination.
Mr. Davis founded the brokerage, which consultants say is one of the most effective in the country, in 1989.
Mr. Ciccati had long reported to John Broderick, executive vice president for retail banking. But company officials said they wanted to combine the 40-member investment products marketing and administrative staff with the 300 employees who perform the same duties for its mortgage lending unit.
"In reviewing where we are and where we are going, executive management agreed there are a lot of synergies in our unit of financial consultants and our loan consultants," Mr. Davis said.
Under the new structure, Mr. Ciccati retained oversight of the thrift's 85 investment representatives. But he lost responsibility for their support staff, which now reports to various managers in the mortgage origination department. The staff's duties include writing marketing brochures, training sales representatives, and performing accounting and back office paperwork.
Douglas Springer, president of Washington Mutual's brokerage, declined to comment. It is unclear who will head the brokerage of the post- acquisition bank.
After founding American's brokerage, known as ASB Financial Services, Mr. Davis was promoted to oversee American's mortgage originations. Under his lead, the bank's mortgage department saw its California market share grow from 2% to more than 5%, the second highest behind BankAmerica Corp., he said.
Mr. Davis also oversees MFS Insurance Services, the American Savings division that sells insurance to customers.
