clarinews@clarinet.com (02/03/90)
IRVINE, Calif. (UPI) -- American Savings Bank, which nearly went out of business before being acquired by an investor group led by Texas investor Robert Bass, announced Friday the 177-branch thrift had a successful year in 1989 with profits of $214.2 million. ``By all measures, 1989 was a successful year for American Savings Bank,'' said Mario Antoci, chairman and chief executive officer. The earnings, which have not been audited, were more than those earned by H.F. Ahmanson & Co., parent of Home Savings of America, the nation's largest thrift and generally acknowledged as one of the best-run S&Ls in the nation. Ahmanson earned $193.9 million in 1989. The Bass group, in a $400 million deal made in late 1988, owns 70 percent of American Savings, while the federal government owns the rest through warrants. American said it has streamlined its operations by consolidating about 20 office locations statewide into three major centers. It said its headquarters facility in Stockton, Calif., consolidated 10 former facilities into one. The thrift's administrative headquarters are in Irvine, Calif. American said it has met the new capital requirements for tangible and core capital, with levels of 3.01 percent. Required tangible capital is now 1.5 percent, while the core capital requirement is 3 percent. The bank's risk-based capital is 11.2 percent, higher than the 6.4 percent now required.