Hanley: Public Becoming Immune to California Bank Failures

SANTA ANA, Calif. — Two more failures of California thrifts are being taken in stride by consumers, according to Rudy Hanley, the president/CEO of the $7.8 billion SchoolsFirst Federal Credit Union.“We’ve known for some time about Downey Savings in trouble and the other was smaller with less of an impact,” said Hanley, commenting on the Nov. 21 collapse of the $12.8 billion Downey Savings & Loan and the $3.4 billion PFF Bank & Trust of Pomona. Both were taken over by regulators and sold to U.S. Bank of Minneapolis.Downey Savings, like the major banks, has been “highly competitive” on CD rates “in the high 3′s or 4′s,” said Hanley, but SchoolsFirst is not about to match them now. SchoolsFirst CD rates have been roughly “50 to 100 basis points” below some of the leaders, he said.Hanley said that while the public is likely to be asking more questions about financial stability in light of the Downey and PFF failures, California consumers for the most part have now come to accept these calamities in stride.“Remember we’ve had lots of players go away now…there’s IndyMac, Wachovia, Washington Mutual and Countrywide,” said Hanley.Downey, said regulators, had been operating under a cease and desist order issued by the Office of Thrift Supervision since September and was ordered to raise more capital but was unable to do so.In a separate failure on Nov. 21, the FDIC closed the $681 million Community Bank in Loganville, Ga., selling it to the Bank of Essex in Rappahannock, Va.–[email protected]