The Office of Thrift Supervision granted a thrift charter Wednesday to American General Corp. of Houston, an insurer.
American General plans to buy Standard Pacific Savings, Newport Beach, Calif., and merge it into a Utah industrial loan company. The combined entity, American General Bank, is to be based in Midvale, Utah.
The thrift would offer mortgages, credit cards, and checking and savings accounts and distribute them through the insurer's national network of 18,000 agents. American General Corp. has $105 billion of assets.
Currently, Standard Pacific has two offices, in Irvine, Calif., and in Midvale. James S. D'Agostino, American General's vice chairman for consumer finance, said the company would seek approval to open more.