Sumitomo Places New Execs In Charge of California Unit

SAN FRANCISCO - The board of Sumitomo Bank of California has appointed a new top management team for the $5.1 billion-asset institution.

Tsuneo Onda, 54, was promoted Tuesday to president and chief executive from executive vice president. He replaced Tadaichi Ikagawa, who is transferring to a post in Tokyo with the parent company, Sumitomo Bank Ltd.

Shuichi Tobimatsu, a managing director in New York for the parent company, has taken the additional title of chairman of the California bank's board. He has been a director of the California affiliate since 1993.

Kyle Tatsumoto, corporate secretary for Sumitomo Bank of California, said the changes resulted from the Japanese parent's standard rotation of executives. While executives' terms in office are not specified, they normally are four to five years.

Mr. Ikagawa had been president and chief executive for four years. He was reassigned as president and chief executive of Sumitomo Bank International Business Service Co.

Mr. Tobimatsu's appointment as chairman formalizes a role he had filled informally, Mr. Tatsumoto said. Sumitomo Bank of California had not had a chairman since 1992. But since Mr. Tobimatsu's responsibility is to oversee Sumitomo's activities in North and South America, he has been de facto chairman of the California unit.

Mr. Tatsumoto said that Mr. Ikagawa's primary objective during his tenure was to work the California bank through its loan problems, which resulted from excessive concentration in commercial real estate and California's deep recession.

The workout entailed selling those loans, curtailing commercial lending, and expanding lending into other markets.

The workout will reach its zenith this quarter, when $500 million of problem loans and real estate are to be sold. The transaction is expected to produce a $150 million second-quarter loss, the largest ever for Sumitomo Bank of California.

To maintain the California bank's capital ratios, the parent has agreed to buy $180 million worth of the California bank's stock. It already owns 74% of the company.

Mr. Tatsumoto, the corporate secretary, said this transaction would allow Mr. Onda to concentrate on revenue growth.

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