California Banks Making Some Changes at the Top

Several western banks started the new year with a bundle of executive changes.

In the most recent move, $7.7 billion-asset Sanwa Bank California elevated chief operating officer Tamio "Tom" Takakura to president and chief executive. He will be replaced as chief operating officer by Kazuyoshi Kuwahata, an executive from the parent bank in Japan.

Mr. Takakura, 50, is an 18-year veteran of the Los Angeles-based bank and a director of its parent, Sanwa Bank Ltd., which has $422 billion of assets. He replaces Hiro Nobuhara, 54, who has been promoted to head Sanwa's Tokyo branch banking division. Mr. Nobuhara had run Sanwa Bank California for 18 months.

Meanwhile, John F. Maher, the 52-year-old president of the $44 billion- asset Great Western Financial Corp., Chatsworth, Calif., last week assumed the additional title of chief executive in accordance with a previously announced succession plan. He replaces James F. Montgomery, 61, who continues as chairman.

Additionally, a spokesman for San Francisco-based Union Bank said that an internal memo lists eight executives who will hold top positions after the Bank of Tokyo unit's pending merger with Bank of California, expected to close April 1. The merger with the Mitsubishi Bank subsidiary would create a $24 billion-asset institution ranking fourth among California banks.

Two senior executives at First Hawaiian Bank, the principal subsidiary of $7.4 billion-asset First Hawaiian Inc., were promoted and named to the bank's senior management committee. Senior vice president Robert A. Alm is replacing Philip H. Ching as head of the financial management group. Senior vice president Barbara S. Tomber has been named group manager of the media finance, corporate, and international divisions.

Mr. Takakura said he could not detail his intentions for Sanwa Bank California until a three-year plan is completed in March. The bank ranks fifth in the state, with 110 branches.

Mr. Takakura's promotion came on the heels of a Dec. 21 sale of $126 million of nonperforming and underperforming loans. The sale was Sanwa California's first bulk sale of bad loans. Proceeds amounted to about three-quarters of the loans' book value, Mr. Takakura said.

The sale is not expected to hurt earnings, since reserves will cover the losses. The California bank is expecting 1995 pretax earnings of about $90 million, compared with $53 million in 1994.

But the bank's third-quarter return on assets of 0.78% and return on equity of 7.99% are not expected to rise to the big-bank averages of 1.32% and 16.9% within the next three years, Mr. Takakura said.

He said Sanwa has a "willingness" to use its excess capital for acquisitions. But no deals are imminent.

Observers said the postmerger appointments at Union Bank are remarkable for how equally they are split between executives of $7.7 billion-asset Bank of California and $17.2 billion-asset Union Bank.

The two banks are merging because their Japanese parents are combining to create a behemoth with $820 billion of assets that will supplant Sanwa as the world's biggest bank.

The California units had previously said that Union Bank president and chief executive Kanetaka Yoshida will hold these posts in the new institution. Bank of California chairman Hiroo Nozawa will be deputy chairman and chief operating officer.

The eight other executive appointments listed in the memo are split equally among executives from both institutions. Included are Union vice chairman and retail banking chief Richard Hartnack, who will continue in that role, and Union vice chairman and wholesale banking chief Robert Walker, who will run commercial banking.

Bank of California vice chairman Roy Henderson will run trust, investment management, and private banking, while executive vice president Magan Patel will run international correspondent banking.

Still to be approved are Union vice chairman Takahiro Moriguchi as chief financial officer, Bank of California vice chairman Minoru Noda as chief credit officer, and Union executive vice president Toshio Kumon as head of Japanese corporate transactions.

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