Top Thrift Figure To Head AilingFHLB

SEATTLE - (05/24/05) -- The financially troubled FederalHome Loan Bank of Seattle announced Monday it has named JamesGilleran, former director of the U.S. Office of Thrift Supervisionand ex-head of the Bank of San Francisco, as its new president andCEO. Gilleran will begin work June 1 at an FHLB that has beenplagued by an insider trading scandal and declining financials inrecent weeks. He will succeed Norman Rice, the former mayor ofSeattle, who resigned as CEO of the Seattle bank in February. Thebank, facing $260 million in losses on its investment portfolio,said last week it has signed a supervisory agreement with itsfederal regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Board, barring itfrom paying any dividends for three years or approving any stockredemptions before the mandatory five-year redemption. Last monthtwo directors of the bank resigned after it was revealed theirbanks redeemed $74 million in stock while news of the FHLB'sdeclining financials was pending, but not yet public. The Seattlebank has 374 members, including 79 credit unions.