Ahmanson Subsidiary Gets Bank Insurance
IRWINDALE, Calif. - The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. approved H.F. Ahmanson & Co.'s application to insure its Washington State-chartered bank through the Bank Insurance Fund, the thrift holding company said.
Ahmanson, which established its Washington bank in March 1995, said the approval for BIF insurance would help it compete with commercial banks' rates.
"We have been at a competitive disadvantage since the first of this year when commercial banks began paying only a minimal deposit insurance premium," said Ahmanson chairman and chief executive Charles R. Rinehart.
Ahmanson expects to pay $73 million this year for deposits insured through the Savings Association Insurance Fund, he said.
The thrift holding company said it soon would offer customers of its affiliate bank BIF-insured deposit products through its Home Savings of America subsidiary.
Home Savings, the nation's largest thrift, has assets of $49.5 billion. Recruiter Promotes Veteran of Big Bank Accounts
DALLAS - Executive search firm Lamalie Amrop International appointed Thomas M. Watkins 3d as a managing partner in the Dallas office.
Mr. Watkins, who was a partner, has been responsible for general management searches, working for clients such as Banc One Corp., Whitney National Bank, and First Union Corp.
Before joining the search firm in 1987, he had been a search consultant at Heidrick & Struggles and, before that, was a senior vice president and director of human resources at BancTexas and BancTexas Services Inc., Dallas-based units of Banc One.
Lamalie Amrop is the fifth-largest search firm in the United States. Chase Hires Asian Private Banker from Citi
HONG KONG - Antony Leung, private banking executive in the Asia-Pacific division at Citicorp, has resigned to join Chase Manhattan Bank.
Mr. Leung was named managing director and regional manager for Chase's operations, covering Greater China and the Philippines, a Chase spokeswoman said. Greater China includes China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.
A Citibank spokeswoman, based in Hong Kong, said Mr. Leung had submitted his resignation, but she gave no further details. B of A Securities Names Asset-Backed Chief
CHICAGO - Bank of America has hired Rahul Arora as a managing director for its BA Securities Inc. unit in Chicago.
Mr. Arora is to head asset-backed commercial paper, medium-term note conduit business, and structuring and executing of privately placed asset- backed securities.
He was head of the private asset-backed securities group at Duff & Phelps Credit Rating Co., Chicago. CoreStates Finishes Meridian Consolidation
PHILADELPHIA - CoreStates Financial Corp. said it has completed the conversion and consolidation of all its Pennsylvania branches in the wake of its merger with Meridian Bank.
The two banks' retail systems are now united under the name CoreStates Bank. The branch operations systems have also been consolidated, the bank said.
The project included closing 59 branch offices. The bank company now has 389 branches, 800 automated teller machines, and $44 billion of assets.
The CoreStates-Meridian merger closed April 9.
