In Brief: $1.6 Million Refund on 1989 Thrift Deal

community bank in Rosemead, Calif., in connection with the 1989 acquisition of a failed thrift. First American Bank bought the deposits of California Federal Savings from the Resolution Trust Corp. But in 1996 a California court ruled that the RTC had included excess deposits. At the court's order, First American returned $6.6 million to the FDIC, which had taken over the RTC's affairs that year. Last September, though, an appeals court ordered the FDIC to refund $1.55 million of that payment. First American received the money in late December and said it would be recorded as income. The $120 million-asset bank also announced last month that the Federal Reserve has terminated a six-year-old disciplinary action against it. In 1992 the bank had nonperforming assets of $15 million, and regulators ordered it to improve underwriting standards, reduce problem loans, and refrain from acquisitions. Nonperforming assets have since plunged to $300,000. - Alan Kline