Executive Bank

Edwin B. Wood, a longtime resident of Newport Beach and Security Pacific Bank executive, died Saturday of heart failure. He was 87. A native of New Jersey, Wood moved to California about 1920, according to his daughter, Joanne Wood Johnson. Wood worked for Security Pacific for 46 years before retiring in 1971 as assistant vice president. Wood was a member of the Community Congregational Church in Corona del Mar for many years. He was a member of the California Bankers Assn.

Edwin B. Wood, a longtime resident of Newport Beach and Security Pacific Bank executive, died Saturday of heart failure. He was 87. A native of New Jersey, Wood moved to California about 1920, according to his daughter, Joanne Wood Johnson. Wood worked for Security Pacific for 46 years before retiring in 1971 as assistant vice president. Wood was a member of the Community Congregational Church in Corona del Mar for many years. He was a member of the California Bankers Assn.

Pioneer Bancorp, which has long been squabbling with regulators over its commercial real estate loan portfolio, said Thursday that it has hired Thomas R. Timmons as president and chief executive of the company and its subsidiary, Pioneer Bank. Timmons replaces Richard Boyle, who moved up to the newly created position of vice chairman.

Trusted by his co-workers and savvy in the ways of bank record-keeping, Fereidoon Mafi (Fred) Vassegh quietly fleeced American Pacific State Bank and its customers for more than three years. But in August, 1983, after embezzling $2.5 million, he slipped up. Vassegh, then the bank's No. 3 executive, was late in paying off a $99,000 loan that he put under someone else's name but pocketed himself, triggering an audit that uncovered his activities. Frank J. Ures Jr.

Pioneer Bancorp, which has long been squabbling with regulators over its commercial real estate loan portfolio, said Thursday that it has hired Thomas R. Timmons as president and chief executive of the company and its subsidiary, Pioneer Bank. Timmons replaces Richard Boyle, who moved up to the newly created position of vice chairman.

SEC says the bank failed to produce requested documents during a probe into trading by a former executive. Bank of America Corp. was fined a record $10 million by the Securities and Exchange Commission because it allegedly lied to the regulator during a probe into trading by the bank and a former employee.

Marina del Rey Thrift Acquired: Century Federal Savings & Loan in Pasadena has acquired from the federal Resolution Trust Corp. $38.2 million in deposits formerly held by the failed Executive Savings Bank in Marina del Rey. Century Federal, which paid no premium for the deposits, also acquired $19.4 million in real estate loans that it may return within 45 days to the RTC, the federal agency created in 1989 to mop up the savings and loan mess.

The Hartford Financial Services Group named Liam E. McGee, a former executive at Bank of America Corp., as its new chairman and chief executive. McGee, 55, succeeds Ramani Ayer, who announced his plans to retire as head of the life insurer in June. McGee most recently served as president of the consumer and small business bank for Bank of America.

Trusted by his co-workers and savvy in the ways of bank record-keeping, Fereidoon Mafi (Fred) Vassegh quietly fleeced American Pacific State Bank and its customers for more than three years. But in August, 1983, after embezzling $2.5 million, he slipped up. Vassegh, then the bank's No. 3 executive, was late in paying off a $99,000 loan that he put under someone else's name but pocketed himself, triggering an audit that uncovered his activities. Frank J. Ures Jr.

* Steve L. Chen, an executive with Bank of America for more than 20 years, has left to become senior vice president in charge of the Asian private banking operation for American Express Bank International. Chen, 54, joined B of A's Taipei branch in 1965 and most recently managed business development with the U.S. affiliates of Asian and European businesses out of the bank's Los Angeles corporate office.

Karen N. Horn, who has been president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland since May, 1982, will resign in April to become chairman and chief executive of Bank One of Cleveland. Horn, 43, was the first woman to be president of a Federal Reserve bank. She will become one of the two or three top woman banking executives in the nation in her new job, said John Russell, a spokesman for Banc One Corp., the Columbus-based bank holding company that owns Bank One of Cleveland.