Security Pacific Corp

The past year will likely rank as the saddest and concluding chapter in the history of Security Pacific Corp., the once-noble banking house that has been an Establishment mainstay in Los Angeles throughout much of the 20th Century. Though the stunning agreement last week to merge with BankAmerica Corp. was billed as a union of equals, the deal appeared more like a takeover or rescue operation because Security Pacific has been so weakened financially.

Former employees of Gibraltar Savings have settled their 3-year-old class action lawsuit against Security Pacific National Bank, which acquired most of the assets of the insolvent Simi Valley thrift in June, 1990, and subsequently laid off the 250 Gibraltar workers without notice. The gross amount of the settlement is $3.1 million.

The Federal Reserve said it approved Security Pacific Corp.'s application to acquire Wells Fargo Business Credit Inc., the commercial finance arm of Wells Fargo & Co. The Fed, noting that Wells Fargo had decided to withdraw from the commercial finance business, said the deal would not lead to undue concentration, unfair competition or other adverse effects.

The building that once housed Brea's largest employer is now standing nearly empty, and city officials are growing increasingly anxious about the lost revenue. The three-story facility at 275 S. Valencia Ave. was Security Pacific Corp.'s data processing headquarters, and at one time nearly 2,000 Security Pacific employees worked there. When Security Pacific merged with BankAmerica Corp.

BofA Deal to Divest Disclosed: Oregon's U.S. Bancorp has agreed to pay $70 million to buy 20 Northern California branches and 29 Nevada branches being sold as part of San Francisco-based BankAmerica Corp.'s pending merger with Los Angeles rival Security Pacific Corp. The sale is the first in BankAmerica's previously announced divestiture of $7.3 billion in deposits to ease antitrust concerns over the merger. The branches being sold have $1.

The Security Pacific Corp. has announced that it is donating $1 million to the national Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program. An immediate gift of $500,000 was described as the largest single cash contribution to DARE since the program was developed in 1983 by the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Majority stakes in three foreign securities affiliates of Security Pacific Corp. may be sold to their managements, the Los Angeles bank holding company said Wednesday. Security Pacific Corp., parent of Security Pacific National Bank, said the plan is under consideration in part because the company believes that giving senior management of the securities firms greater control over operations would make the entities more effective.

Security Pacific Corp., signaling that it is back in the hunt for large failed thrifts, late Friday said it paid $35 million for the last major one available in Arizona: Southwest Savings & Loan in Phoenix. The Los Angeles-based banking firm gets $1.4 billion in deposits and 47 branches from the Resolution Trust Corp. under the deal.

At its annual meeting today in Los Angeles, BankAmerica Corp. is likely to tell stockholders that in the 13 months since it absorbed Security Pacific Corp., it has met the daunting task of merging the two banks' sprawling operations. BankAmerica is almost finished with the mechanics of the blockbuster merger, which increased the bank's already dominant role in the West and left it poised to eventually create a coast-to-coast branch network.

BankAmerica Completes Arizona Sale: The parent of Bank of America completed the previously announced sale of its Caliber Bank unit in Arizona to Independent Bancorp of Arizona, which was formed a year ago by former Postmaster General Anthony M. Frank. BankAmerica was forced to divest the 49-branch unit to complete its buyout of Security Pacific Corp. last year. It is believed to be the largest start-up bank in history.

A local branch of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People is expected to stage a protest at a Bank of America office in Gardena today, saying the bank's decision to close a Security Pacific branch in nearby Compton was racially motivated. The NAACP office is expected to urge the B of A customers to move their accounts to institutions owned by African-Americans.

Where you once cashed your paycheck, you could soon be eating fish. And where you once took out a certificate of deposit, you may soon be buying compact discs. Bank of America is hoping that entrepreneurs as well as consumers will think in those terms.

Many a former bank branch has the potential for being a sit-down restaurant--perfect size, plenty of parking, great location. But what to do with the vault? Those concrete or steel behemoths--unlike teller windows and file cabinets--cannot be simply yanked out and hauled away. And because their walls are typically two to four feet thick, removing them may jeopardize the structural safety of the entire building.

BankAmerica Corp. appears to have beaten Security Pacific Corp. in the competition to buy failed Merabank, Arizona's largest savings and loan. The Resolution Trust Corp., the agency that sells failed savings and loans such as Merabank, declined comment, but indicated that an announcement would come late Friday. California banking sources said Security Pacific definitely did not win the bidding for Phoenix-based Merabank, which has an estimated $4.7 billion in deposits and 66 branches.

B of A to Refund Some Fees: Bank of America said it set aside $50 million in the fourth quarter last year to cover refunds to customers of Security Pacific's trust department who apparently were routinely overcharged on fees in the last two decades. B of A, which bought Los Angeles-based Security Pacific a year ago, determined after a yearlong investigation that holders of something under 3,000 accounts were not given adequate details when asked to consent to fee increases.