The Southern California thrifts are the latest to fail in the mortgage meltdown.

FINANCIAL CRISIS
Downey Savings, PFF Bank seized by federal regulators


Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times
Government officials say Downey Savings & Loan will continue operating as usual under the ownership of Minneapolis-based U.S. Bank. Shown is a branch in Sherman Oaks.
The Southern California thrifts are the latest to fail in the mortgage meltdown. U.S. officials say the banks' branches will continue operating as usual under Minneapolis-based U.S. Bank.
By E. Scott Reckard and Tiffany Hsu
November 22, 2008
Federal regulators seized Downey Savings & Loan and PFF Bank & Trust late Friday, saying hundreds of millions of dollars in bad loans from the housing bubble had rendered the Southern California banking fixtures unsound.

The banks' branches will continue operating as usual under the ownership of Minneapolis-based U.S. Bank, one of the country's largest banks, and no depositors will lose any money because of the failures, regulators said.



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Newport Beach-based Downey lost $547.7 million in the first nine months of 2008, largely because of risky "option ARM" mortgages -- adjustable-rate loans that let borrowers pay so little each month that their loan balances rose.

PFF, short for Pomona First Federal, specialized in loans to Inland Empire developers and home builders, running up $289.5 million in losses in the January-September period.

"The closing of these two thrifts once again demonstrates the tremendous impact of the housing market distress on the state of California," John Reich, director of the Office of Thrift Supervision, said in a statement announcing the seizure of the institutions.


After seizing the banks, the agency handed them over to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which immediately agreed to have U.S. Bank, a unit of US Bancorp, acquire virtually all their assets and assume all of their deposits.

US Bancorp agreed to shoulder the first $1.6 billion in losses on the two thrifts' loans. The FDIC will be on the hook for losses after that, which it estimates will be $2.1 billion.

Of the $3.7 billion in total estimated losses, $2.9 billion is on Downey's loans and $800 million is on PFF's.

The FDIC said it entertained other offers for the two thrifts. But the agency determined US Bancorp's offer was the least costly to the federal deposit insurance fund, which is financed by premiums paid by banks and thrifts.

US Bancorp, which has largely escaped the mortgage losses plaguing many banks, said acquiring Downey and PFF was part of its strategy of expanding in the West, particularly in California, where it recently completed the acquisition of Mellon Business Bank in downtown Los Angeles.

Before the latest deals, U.S. Bank had 353 California branches, a modest number in contrast with the presence the bank maintains in downtown Los Angeles. Its name appears on the former Library Tower on Fifth Street, the highest U.S. skyscraper west of the Mississippi.

The Downey and PFF branches brings U.S. Bank's California total to 561 branches, compared with more than 1,000 each for Bank of America Corp. and Wells Fargo & Co.

The $2.1-billion loss brings the deposit insurance fund's losses on failed banks to about $15 billion this year, said Arlington, Va., bank consultant Bert Ely.

Ely said that amount could have been far lower if regulators had stepped in earlier to force the operators of big thrifts like Washington Mutual Inc. and Downey to find a buyer or clean up their acts before their loan problems became so severe.

"It's really sad about Downey," Ely said. "It was a great institution with a great branch system and customer base, and it made it through all the bank troubles of the 1980s. In the end, it was just like WaMu. These problems are like a fresh-caught fish, not like a fine red wine -- they don't get better with age."

Downey Financial Corp., parent of Downey Savings, was co-founded in 1957 by developer Maurice McAlister, a bass fisherman and nickelodeon collector who built shopping centers with Downey branches. McAlister remained chairman until July, when Downey's woes were already apparent.

PFF was the oldest banking outfit based in Southern California, founded in Pomona in 1892 to serve towns in what was then the citrus belt. Parent PFF Bancorp Inc., based in Rancho Cucamonga, had hoped to sell itself to Oak Park, Ill.-based FBOP Corp., which owns California National Bank and other community banks.

The seizures are likely to make permanent the disappearance of the stock market value of Downey Financial and PFF Bancorp. Since the end of 2006, when the mortgage meltdown began, Downey's shares have lost 99% of their value. PFF's stock is down 99.8%.

Regulators allowed Downey and PFF to complete their business Friday before stepping in.

At Downey's headquarters, a group of 10 FDIC and US Bancorp officials strode into the lobby of pink granite and marble at 6:06 p.m. and took the elevator to the fifth-floor executive offices to begin the transition to new ownership.